BACKGROUND Pesticide exposure may be positively associated with depression. Few previous studies have considered the episodic nature of depression or examined individual pesticides. OBJECTIVE We evaluated associations between pesticide exposure and depression among male private pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study. METHODS We analyzed data for 10 pesticide classes and 50 s...

Chlordecone (C10Cl10O; CAS number 143-50-0) has been used extensively as an organochlorine insecticide but is nowadays banned and listed on annex A in The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). Although experimental evidences of biodegradation of this compound are scarce, several dechlorination products have been proposed by Dolfing et al. (2012) using Gibbs free energy c...

p,p#-DDT (bis[p-chlorophenyl]-1,1,1-trichloroethane) is a persistent organochlorine compound that has been used worldwide as an insecticide. The authors evaluated the association of cord serum levels of DDT and its metabolite, 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethylene (DDE), with neurodevelopment at age 4 years. Two birth cohorts in Ribera d’Ebre and Menorca (Spain) were recruited between 19...

The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei Ferrari, is a serious problem for the majority of the world's coffee growers and has proved to be one of the most intractable of present day pests. Despite a great deal of research, control still depends largely on the application of the organochlorine insecticide endosulfan, which is damaging to the environment, or a series of cultural and biological...

Emerging evidence suggests that organochlorine, organophosphorus and neonicotinoid insecticide exposure may be linked to the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes. However, there is no knowledge of the potential influence of fipronil, which belongs to the phenylpyrazole chemical family, on obesity. Thus, the goal of this study was to determine the role of fipronil in adipogenesis using 3T3...

Endosulfan is an organochlorine insecticide extensively used to control pests of vegetables and fruits and is well absorbed by ingestion, inhalation and skin contact. Its toxicity, depends upon route of administration, vehicle and species and sex of animal. The present study was designed to evaluate the reproductive toxicity of sub chronic dose of endosulfan on male rats. Adult male rats were e...

Dieldrin is an organochlorine insecticide highly toxic for human beings. Although its exact mechanism of action is not well known, there is evidence that it acts at the cell membrane level. In fact, the lipophilicity of the pesticide as well as that of the phospholipid bilayer present in biological membranes makes the latter a most likely target for the interaction of dieldrin with living organ...

Rachel Carson's 1962 Silent Spring exposed both observed and potential environmental and health externalities of the increasing organochlorine and organophosphate insecticide use in the United States post-World War II. Silent Spring was a critical component in a popular movement that resulted in increased regulation and the development of safer pesticides. Most changes in pesticide use in the g...

Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) is an organochlorine insecticide which has been banned in technologically advanced countries. However, it is still in use in tropical countries for mosquito control and thus new areas continue to be contaminated. Anaerobic degradation of HCH isomers have been well documented but until recently there have been only a few reports on aerobic microbial degradation of HCH...