Pesticides and their effects on wildlife

Conference · Fri Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994

OSTI ID:10163013

Driver, C J

About 560 active ingredients are currently used as pesticides. Applications of these pesticides are made to agricultural lands and other areas inhabited by wildlife. Unfortunately, many agricultural-use pesticides also entail some measure of risk to organisms other than the pest species. Because testing of pesticides prior to registration cannot evaluate all the potential environmental-pesticide-wildlife/fish interactions, current methods of risk assessment do not always provide sufficient safety to nontarget organisms. This is evidenced by die-offs of fish and wildlife from applications of pesticides at environmentally {open_quotes}safe{close_quotes} rates, the linking of population declines of some species with agrochemical use, and observations of survival-threatening behavioral changes in laboratory and field animals exposed to typical field levels of pesticides. It is important to note, however, that the majority of pesticides, when properly applied, have not caused significant injury to wildlife. A brief summary of pesticide effects on wildlife and fish are presented for the common classes of pesticides in use today.

• Research Organization: Battelle Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 10163013
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA--23736; CONF-940191--1; ON: DE94014493
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

553003
560300
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ANIMALS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CHEMICALS METABOLISM AND TOXICOLOGY
PEST AND DISEASE CONTROL
PESTICIDES
RISK ASSESSMENT
TESTING
TOXICITY