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Books > Professional & Technical > Agriculture & farming > Pest control
Evaluates the carcinogenic risk to humans posed by occupational
exposure during the spraying and application of insecticides. The
book also features separate monographs evaluating the
carcinogenicity of 17 individual pesticides, including several that
have been banned by industrialized countries yet are still used in
the developing world. Although some of these pesticides have been
in use for more than four decades, evaluations of carcinogenicity
were hindered by the sparsity of well-designed epidemiological
studies. The first and most extensive monograph evaluates data from
descriptive and ecological studies, cohort studies, and
case-control studies suggesting an increased risk of cancer, most
notably lung cancer, multiple myeloma and other tumours of B-cell
origin, in workers exposed to insecticides during their
application. On the basis of this evaluation, the book concludes
that the spraying and application of nonarsenical insecticides
entail exposures that are probably carcinogenic to humans. The
remaining monographs evaluate the carcinogenicity of aldicarb,
atrazine, captafol, chlordane, DDT, deltamethrin, dichlorvos,
fenvalerate, heptachlor, monuron, pentachlorophenol, permethrin,
picloram, simazine, thiram, trifluralin, and zitram. Of these,
captafol, a fungicide used on plants, for seed treatment, and as a
wood preservative, was classified as probably carcinogenic to
humans. Atrazine, chlordane, DDT, dichlorvos, heptachlor, and
pentachlorophenol were classified as possibly carcinogenic to
humans. The remaining pesticides could not be classified on the
basis of available data.
The book provides comprehensive information on a wide range of
topics from biology, physiology, genetics to the use of genomic
tools in weed science. The book covers information at a more
advanced level than the previously published books in weed science.
It covers not only weed genetics and genomics research, but also
weed management from an ecological perspective. Furthermore, the
book also gives a broad coverage of novel mechanisms of weed
resistance to herbicides. More importantly, it includes next
generation sequencing techniques and bioinformatics of herbicide
resistant genes in weeds.
Scale insects feed on plant juices and can easily be transported to
new countries on live plants. They sometimes become invasive pests,
costing billions of dollars in damage to crops worldwide annually,
and farmers try to control them with toxic pesticides, risking
environmental damage. Fortunately, scale insects are highly
susceptible to control by natural enemies so biological control is
possible. They have unique genetic systems, unusual metamorphosis,
a broad spectrum of essential symbionts, and some are sources of
commercial products like red dyes, shellac and wax. There is,
therefore, wide interest in these unusual, destructive, beneficial,
and abundant insects. The Encyclopedia of Scale Insect Pests is the
most comprehensive work on worldwide scale insect pests, providing
detailed coverage of the most important species (230 species in 26
families, 36% of the scale insect pest species known). Advice is
provided on collection, preservation, slide-mounting, vouchering,
and labelling of specimens, fully illustrated with colour
photographs, diagrams and drawings. Pest species are presented in
two informal groups of families, the 'primitive' Archaeococcoids
followed by the more 'advanced' Neococcoids, covered in
phylogenetic order. Each family is illustrated and diagnosed based
on features of live and slide-mounted specimens, with information
on numbers of genera and species, main hosts, distribution, and
biology. For the important pest species, coverage includes
information on the morphology of live and slide-mounted specimens,
common names, principal synonyms, geographical distribution, plant
hosts, plant damage and economic impact, reproductive biology,
dispersal, and management strategies including biological, cultural
and chemical control, sterile insect techniques, regulatory
control, early warning systems and field monitoring. An additional
complete list of scale insect pests worldwide is provided,
comprising 642 species in 28 scale insect families (about 8% of the
8373 species of living scales known), with information on plant
hosts, geographical distribution and validation sources. Beneficial
uses of scale insects include sources of red dyes, natural resins
and waxes, and agents for invasive weed control, alongside the
importance of their honeydew to bees for making honey, and as a
food source to other animals. Academic researchers, students,
entomologists, pest management officials in agribusiness or
government including plant quarantine identifiers, extensionists,
farmers, field scientists and ecologists will all benefit from this
book.
In the race to feed the world's seven billion people, we are at a
standstill. Over the past century, we have developed increasingly
potent and sophisticated pesticides, yet in 2014, the average
percentage of U.S. crops lost to agricultural pests was no less
than in 1944. To use a metaphor the field of evolutionary biology
borrowed from "Alice in Wonderland," farmers must run ever faster
to stay in the same place--i.e., produce the same yields.
With "Chasing the Red Queen," Andy Dyer offers the first book to
apply the Red Queen Hypothesis to agriculture. He illustrates that
when selection pressure increases, species evolve in response,
creating a never-ending, perpetually-escalating competition between
predator (us) and prey (bugs and weeds). The result is farmers are
caught in a vicious cycle of chemical dependence, stuck using
increasingly dangerous and expensive toxics to beat back
progressively resistant pests.
To break the cycle, we must learn the science behind it. Dyer
examines one of the world's most pressing problems as a biological
case study. He presents key concepts, from Darwin's principles of
natural selection to genetic variation and adaptive phenotypes.
Understanding the fundamentals of ecology and biology is the first
step to "playing the Red Queen," and escaping her unwinnable race.
The book's novel frame will help students, researchers, and
policy-makers alike apply that knowledge to the critical task of
achieving food security.
It used to be: If you see a coyote, shoot it. Better yet, a bear.
Best of all, perhaps? A wolf. How we've gotten from there to here,
where such predators are reintroduced,protected, and in some cases
revered, is the story Frank Van Nuys tells in Varmints and Victims,
a thorough and enlightening look at the evolution of predator
management in the American West. As controversies over predator
control rage on, Varmints and Victims puts the debate into
historical context, tracing the West's relationship with
charismatic predators like grizzlies, wolves, and cougars from
unquestioned eradication to ambivalent recovery efforts. Van Nuys
offers a nuanced and balanced perspective on an often-emotional
topic, exploring the intricacies of how and why attitudes toward
predators have changed over the years. Focusing primarily on
wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, and grizzly bears, he charts the
logic and methods of management practiced by ranchers, hunters, and
federal officials Broad in scope and rich in detail, this work
brings new, much-needed clarity to the complex interweaving of
economics, politics, science, and culture in the formulation of
ideas about predator species, and in policies directed at these
creatures. In the process, we come to see how the story of predator
control is in many ways the story of the American West itself, from
early attempts to connect the frontier region to mainstream
American life and economics to present ideas about the nature and
singularity of the region.
Crop protection continues to be an important component of modern
farming to maintain food production to feed an expanding human
population, but considerable changes have occurred in the
regulation of pesticides in Europe in the last decade. The aim has
been to reduce their impact on people and the environment. This has
resulted in a major reduction in the number of chemicals approved
for application on crops. In other parts of the world, a continuing
expansion in the growing of genetically modified crops has also
changed the pattern of pesticide use. In this second edition,
Graham Matthews, updates how pesticides are registered and applied
and the techniques used to mitigate their effects in the
environment. Information on operator safety, protection of workers
in crops treated with pesticides and spray drift affecting those
who live in farming areas is also discussed. By bringing together
the most recent research on pesticides in a single volume, this
book provides a vital up to date resource for agricultural
scientists, agronomists, plant scientists, plant pathologists,
entomologists, environmental scientists, public health personnel,
toxicologists and others working in the agrochemical industry and
governments. It should assist development of improvements in
harmonising regulation of pesticides in countries with limited
resources for registration of pesticides.
In this book, the authors present current research in the study of
the characteristics, uses and health implications of pesticides.
Topics discussed include the evaluation of pesticide-induced DNA
damage and oxidative stress on human and wildlife populations in
Argentina; analytical methods of various families of pesticides in
biological matrices; implications of pesticide use in the olive
sector; pesticides and endangered sea turtles; monitoring emissions
and atmospheric degradations of pesticides in the atmosphere; and
adverse effects of pesticides in human health.
An examination of political conflicts over pesticide drift and the
differing conceptions of justice held by industry, regulators, and
activists. The widespread but virtually invisible problem of
pesticide drift-the airborne movement of agricultural pesticides
into residential areas-has fueled grassroots activism from Maine to
Hawaii. Pesticide drift accidents have terrified and sickened many
living in the country's most marginalized and vulnerable
communities. In this book, Jill Lindsey Harrison considers
political conflicts over pesticide drift in California, using them
to illuminate the broader problem and its potential solutions. The
fact that pesticide pollution and illnesses associated with it
disproportionately affect the poor and the powerless raises
questions of environmental justice (and political injustice).
Despite California's impressive record of environmental protection,
massive pesticide regulatory apparatus, and booming organic farming
industry, pesticide-related accidents and illnesses continue
unabated. To unpack this conundrum, Harrison examines the
conceptions of justice that increasingly shape environmental
politics and finds that California's agricultural industry,
regulators, and pesticide drift activists hold different, and
conflicting, notions of what justice looks like. Drawing on her own
extensive ethnographic research as well as in-depth interviews with
regulators, activists, scientists, and public health practitioners,
Harrison examines the ways industry, regulatory agencies, and
different kinds of activists address pesticide drift, connecting
their efforts to communitarian and libertarian conceptions of
justice. The approach taken by pesticide drift activists, she
finds, not only critiques theories of justice undergirding
mainstream sustainable-agriculture activism, but also offers an
entirely new notion of what justice means. To solve seemingly
intractable environmental problems such as pesticide drift,
Harrison argues, we need a different kind of environmental justice.
She proposes the precautionary principle as a framework for
effectively and justly addressing environmental inequities in the
everyday work of environmental regulatory institutions.
Why call an exterminator? Save thousands of dollars every year.
Protect your family and property, and keep yourself safe from
disease. This guide will teach you the art of responsible pest
elimination. Have you stared at shelves of pesticides wondering
which to buy, which are safe, which treatment will eliminate your
pest, and how to apply it? If so, this book is for you. You only
lack the trade secrets and the knowledge, such as safe application
methods, how to prevent an attack in the first place, when killing
is not necessary, and how all of this affects our environment.
Before you buy your next can of bug spray, before you get bitten
again, before you buy or sell a house, or before you go outdoors,
read this book and learn how to: Kill all types of household and
yard pests; Select the appropriate pesticides and use them safely;
Kill responsibly; Kill without chemicals; Affordably protect your
home or apartment from pests; Minimize environmental impact; Decide
when to use residual or non-residual pesticides; Select the
appropriate equipment; Prevent insect bites; Inspect a property
before buying; Design a pest-proof house; Kill noxious weeds;
Prevent your pets from getting ticks; Avoid deadly house explosions
during flea treatments; Find vitamins that help prevent
insect-borne diseases; Kill bedbugs or prevent infestations; Kill
fire ants with only water; Kill head lice safely; Prevent deer and
rabbits from eating your garden; Kill termites for only a few
dollars instead of thousands. YOU are smarter than a bug The book's
first half explains pesticides in layman's terms, advises which to
purchase, and how to use them safely. The second half explains how
to control insects, fungus and animals with or without pesticides.
After reading, any layperson becomes an expert pest controller
saving thousands of dollars and providing a pest free environment
to live in.
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