The Impact of Pesticides - Academy Publish

must be considered, since effective activities occurs in an open air (Colosio et al.,2011). For this reason, Colosio et al. (2011) developed an integrated user-friendlytool for risk assessment and management in agriculture, in which the computationalmodelling was added to biological, and environmental monitoring.Most of the population may be exposed to carbamates through dietary (e.g.consumption of treated fruits, vegetables and contaminated water) (Lu et al., 2010).Hazard characterization involves comparing the pesticide exposure concentrationwith the ADI or the ARfD (the estimate of the amount of a substance in food thatcan be ingested over a short period of time, usually during one meal or one day,without appreciable health risk to the consumer) (WHO 1997; Keikotlhaile et al.,2011). In exposure assessment, the potential intake or consumption of pesticideresidues is divided by the body weight and compared to ADI or ARfD (Exposure =(Concentration of pesticide residue x Food consumed)/ body weight) (Keikotlhaileet al., 2011).Long-term averaged daily intake of contaminants such as pesticide residues in foodmay be estimated using NORMTOX (Ragas and Huijbregts, 1998; Ragas et al.,2009). Schulte-Oehlmann et al. (2011) reviewed the monitoring data over a 10-yearperiod and revealed that although the percentage of foodstuff without detectablepesticide residues in Germany has continuously decreased from 64 to 51.5%, forcarbaryl ARfDs were exceeded substantially. Among other pesticides, carbamateswere also rated as endocrine-active factors (Schulte-Oehlmann et al., 2011). In viewof the probable health risk of a wide range of pesticides, a new EU regulation isbeing prepared, including the test criteria for these chemicals to be finalized by2013.Humans are sequentially or simultaneously exposed to a wide range of pollutants,instead to only one. Due to the main limitations and complex approach to certainlyevaluate the health effects of complex mixtures few studies were undertaken toexplore this complexity. Recently, Ragas and co-workers (2011) have investigatedthe cumulative health risk effects of a wide range of stressors, including pesticides,on different target groups (young children, working adults and elderly). This surveywas based on the time spent in different microenvironments, the outdoor movement,and food consumption patterns. Different scenarios for assessing mixture effects fora better understanding of mechanism of action, and interactions (antagonistic orsynergistic) were considered. In conclusion, this review underlines the need forperson-oriented exposure models that can simulate the cumulative exposure historyof individuals based on realistic activity and consumption patterns; in addition, abetter mechanistic understanding of the effects of cumulative stressors is relevant.CONCLUSIONSThe increase of carbamate applications makes the implications for theenvironmental and biomedical research communities a significant endeavor. Diet,and principally fruit and fruit juices, is the major carbamates source for nonoccupationallyexposed population. The dietary acute intake of some carbamates(AChE inhibitors) as previously evaluated by the FAO/WHO Joint Meeting onAcademyPublish.org - The Impact of Pesticides30