Milestone for Pest Management
Group
SCI peer-review journals are accessible online, or browse
through the popular papers in the Members’ lounge at London
HQ
 In
1950, the Agricultural Group of SCI set up the Crop Protection
Panel in response to the rapid development of fungicides,
pesticides and herbicides. As a direct result of its success,
and the huge increase in pesticide production worldwide, the
Pesticide Group was founded in 1954. In 2004, half a century
after its creation, the Pesticide Group — now called
the Pest Management Group — is still going strong. The
past 50 years have seen great changes in our approach to controlling
pests, with greater emphasis on sustainable agriculture, reduction
of environmental damage and integrated pest management.
The Pest Management Group has been quick to recognise these
changes, organising conferences on sustainable farming methods,
ecological risk and methods for the reduction and control
of resistance in pests. It continues to organise topical conferences
and is currently planning ‘Sustainable crop production
in Sub-Saharan Africa’ and ‘Ecological risk assessment’.
In this issue of SCI Members' News we take a closer look
at Pest Management Science (PMSci), the journal launched
by SCI in 1969, and at some of the developments that have
been reported since then.
Hazards to wildlife from the use of DDT in orchards
Scientists conducted research in orchards in the southeast
of England on the effects of DDT on birdlife. Birds that had
died or were found dying in the orchard were analysed for
DDT and other organochlorine pesticides. The levels of DDT
detected in the birds’ tissues were sufficient to cause
death. The effects of DDT spraying were also directly investigated
with birds held in cages in orchards that were sprayed with
DDT. After exposure to a single spraying, the birds’
tissues were analysed for DDT and its derivatives. The birds
showed no ill effects from the single spraying, suggesting
that repeated exposure was the cause of death in the birds
collected in the orchard.
Reference: S Bailey, P Bunyan, D Jennings and A Taylor,
Pest Management Science, Volume 1, Issue 1 p 66–69
(1970)
The strobilurin fungicides — a review
The most cited article in PMSci, this review provides comprehensive
coverage of the strobilurin fungicides, detailing their synthesis,
mode of action, biokinetics, fungicidal activity and human
and environmental safety. The strobilurins are a recent development
in fungicides, developed from natural fungicidal sources,
with the first commercial product launched in 1996. By 1999
they already controlled over 10% of the market — quite
an achievement.
Reference: Dave Bartlett, John Clough, Jeremy Godwin,
Alison Hall, Mick Hamer, Bob Parr-Dobrzanski, Pest Management
Science, Volume 58, Issue 7, p 649–662 (2002)
Pesticide residues in food — acute dietary exposure
In the most accessed PMSci paper online, researchers examined
dietary intake of pesticides to examine the potential risk
posed by these residues. Previous studies have looked at the
cumulative effect of these residues, but the average intake
of residues can be lower than that ingested in a single meal.
Single high doses of pesticides such as organophosphates have
been shown to affect human health.
They discovered that residue levels in some fruit and vegetables
are typically as much as three times greater than the average
level throughout the batch. The level of pesticide residue
does not appear to be dependent on the pesticide or the crop
and application is probably the most important factor in determining
the residue level. The IUPAC made a number of suggestions
for health bodies with the most important being a risk assessment
of the short-term effects of high-level residues.
Reference: Denis Hamilton, Árpád Ambrus,
Roland Dieterle, Allan Felsot, Caroline Harris, Barbara Petersen,
Ken Racke, Sue-Sun Wong, Roberto Gonzalez, Keiji Tanaka, Mike
Earl, Graham Roberts, Raj Bhula, Pest Management Science,
Issue 60 Volume 4 p 311–339 (2003)
And here is a preview of just one of the exciting Pest
Management Science papers available in EarlyView:
Repellency of aerosol and cream products containing fennel
oil to mosquitoes under laboratory and field conditions
Researchers in Korea have successfully used extracts of fennel
to repel mosquitoes. They produced both an aerosol and cream
formulation and tested these against three commercial repellents.
The aerosol and the cream both showed good performance in
the lab. In the field trial they were still active after an
hour and a half, with the aerosol beating two of the commercial
repellents with protection only a little behind that of the
best repellent.
Reference: Soon-Il Kim, Kyu-Sik Chang, Young-Cheol
Yang, Byung-Seok Kim, Young-Joon Ahn, Pest Management Science,
DOI: 10.1002/ps.921 (Available in EarlyView)
|
