ENV 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Endrin, Persistent Organic Pollutant, Phenylalanine
Document Summary
Chemicals intended to kill pests: insecticide insects, fungicide fungi, rodenticide rodents (mice, rats, herbicide plants. Can be selective (for certain kinds of plants) or nonselective (for all plants, like using roundup for weeds) Kills a variety of organisms, not just the targeted organisms. 20,000 pesticides currently exist: were once plant-derived, today are mostly synthetic. Slow to degrade and persist in the environment: banned or largely restricted, what ukrainian president viktor yushchenko was poisoned with, you can see the aftereffects on his face. Organophosphates: organic compound that contain phosphoous. Malathion: most poisonous insecticide, don"t persist as long as do chlorinated hydrocarbons. Neonicotinoids: implicated in colony collapse disorder of bees, banned in the eu. Disease control: fleas, lice, mosquitoes carry disease, malaria mosquito-born disease. 2009 250 million people suffered from malaria, leading to over 800,000 deaths. Malaria control in sri lanka used ddt from 1950-1964. Ddt use stopped 1 million cases in 1968. Has since resumed, but in fewer broad applications.
