1.1. INTRODUCTION:-

Agriculture is the lynchpin of the Indian economy and contributes 18% to the GDP. Ensuring food security for more than 1.27 billions Indian populations with diminishing cultivable land resource is a herculean task. In the process of achieving the target pesticides play an important role in Indian agriculture. Pesticides, the agrochemicals, are one of the invaluable inputs in sustaining the agricultural production as substantial food production is lost due to insect pests, plant pathogens, weeds etc. However since the green revolution (1966) has been started in India, the application of these chemicals increased more than hundred times and causing tremendous loss to environment and human health. Internationally big effort is made to safe use of chemicals which are reflected in which identified the elements for the sound management of the chemicals. In India Nearly 65% of the workforce derives livelihood from agriculture and are therefore exposed to chemical pesticides (Asian Monitor Resource Centre). The rampant use of pesticides has played havoc with living beings and the environment as these chemicals persist and seep in environment for a long time because of more water solubility, tendency to adsorb to the soil (soil adsorption) and more half-life that is tendency to persistence in the environment.

The term pesticide covers a wide range of compounds including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, rodenticides, molluscicides, nematicides, plant growth regulators and others. Among these, organochlorine (OC) insecticides, used successfully in controlling a number of diseases, such as malaria and typhus, were banned or restricted after the 1960s in most of the technologically advanced countries. The introduction of other synthetic insecticides – organophosphate (OP) insecticides in the 1960s, carbamates in 1970s and pyrethroids in 1980s and the introduction of herbicides and fungicides in 1970s - 1980s contributed greatly in pest control and agricultural output. Ideally a pesticide must be lethal to the targeted pests, but not to non-target species, including man. Unfortunately, this is not, so the controversy of use and abuse of pesticides has surfaced.

The pesticides’ regulations in India are governed by two different bodies: the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC) and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). CIBRC was established in 1968 under the Department of Agriculture and Co-operation of Ministry of Agriculture. It is responsible for advising central and state governments on technical issues related to manufacture, use and safety issues related to pesticides. Its responsibilities also include recommending uses of various types of the pesticides depending on their toxicity and suitability, determining the shelf life of pesticides and recommend- ing a minimum gap between the pesticide applications and harvesting of the crops (waiting period)1. The other part of the CIBRC, the registration committee, is responsible for registering pesticides after verifying the claims of the manufacturer or importer related to the efficacy and safety of the pesticides2. It is the Food Safety and Stan- dards Authority of India that is responsible for recommending tolerance limits of various pesticides in food commodities.

 Production and Usage of pesticide in India

The production of pesticides started in India in 1952 with the establishment of a plant for the production of BHC near Calcutta, and India is now the second largest manufacturer of pesticides in Asia after China and ranks twelfth globally9. There has been a steady growth in the production of technical grade pesticides in India, from 5,000 metric tonnes in 1958 to 102,240 metric tonnes in 1998. In 1996-97 the demand for pesticides in terms of value was estimated to be around Rs. 22 billion (USD 0.5 billion), which is about 2% of the total world market.

The pattern of pesticide usage in India is different from that for the world in general. As can be seen from Figure 1, in India 76% of the pesticide used is insecticide, as against 44% globally9. The use of herbicides and fungicides is correspondingly less heavy. The main use of pesticides in India is for cotton crops (45%), followed by paddy and wheat.

1.2. What is a pesticide?

Pesticides are chemical compounds designed to kill, repel, attract, or mitigate any pest problem. The suffix of the word pesticide is the Latin root-cide, which means “to kill”. But not all pesticides by the above definition kill. Consider insect repellents, which are regulated with the same strict requirements as all other pesticides. Any product sold in the U.S. for the purpose of repelling a pest, whether garlic, or mint, or soybean oil, is considered by law to be a pesticide.

Almost all of us use pesticides at some time. Disinfectants to clean baby toys, mildew killers to keep shower grout bright, and even chemicals designed to attract insects are considered pesticides under state and federal laws.

Despite their potential for harm, pesticides are not bad by definition. Pesticides vary greatly in the hazards they pose to people and the environment. It’s important, therefore, to learn something about the safety and use of any pesticide, regardless of where it is from.

There are many types of pesticides–and many different names for pesticides. Insecticides are pesticides designed to control insects. Herbicides are pesticides designed to control weeds. Fungicides are designed to control fungi. Each of these is a specialized kind of pesticide. All insecticides, for example, are pesticides; but not all pesticides are insecticides. Can you guess what things the following pesticide classes are designed to manage?

1.3. What is a parathyroid insecticide?

Parathyroid insecticides are a special chemical class of active ingredients found in many of the modern insecticides found on store shelves and used by pest management professionals. The name parathyroid means “pyrethrum-like” and refers to the origin of this class of pesticides.
 Characteristics of pyrethroids

Not all pesticides in the same class are equally toxic, or equally effective the same pests. Nevertheless, most parathyroid insecticides share the following characteristics:
 Low in toxicity to mammals and birds;
 High in toxicity to fish if applied directly to water;
 Require very low doses to kill insects (high arthropod toxicity);
 Fast-acting;
 Especially effective against chewing insects, though many parathyroid insecticides can be absorbed by the insect pest when it merely walks over the dry residue;
 Bind tightly to soil and organic matter (therefore not as effective in penetrating soil to kill underground pests);
 Dissolve very poorly in water.
Pyrethroids became popular as consumer insecticides in the 1990s as replacements for older pesticides, like diazinon and Dursban® that were phased out for environmental and human health reasons. Some parathyroid insecticides last a long time in the environment (days or weeks), especially when protected from sunlight. Others, such as allethrin and resmethrin, break down within a few minutes to a few hours after application.

1.4. WHAT IS A PEST?

Pests are living organism that occur where they are not wanted or that cause damage to crop or humans or other animals, examples include;

 Insecticide,

 Mice and other animals,

 Unwanted plants (weeds),

 Fung,

 Microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses.

By their very nature, most pesticides create some risk of harm - pesticides can cause harm to humans, animals, or the environment because they are designed to kill or otherwise adversely affect living organisms.

Are some pesticides safer than others?

Biologically –based pesticides, such as pheromones and microbial pesticides, are becoming increasingly popular and often are safer than traditional chemical pesticides. In addition, EPA is registering reduced risk conventional pesticides in increasing numbers.
 Industry is undergoing structural change :- Pesticide Industry is broadly classified into five categories; insecticide, herbicide, fungicide, fumigants and Rodenticides. The Indian pesticide industry is undergoing a structural change. In 1982, pesticide market was highly dominated by Insecticides which accounted for 89.9% of the production, followed by fungicide (6.1%) and Herbicide (2.2%). Over the years, the share of Herbicide and Fungicide has increased sharply. In 2009, the share of Insecticides decreased to 55%, while the share of Herbicide and Fungicide increased to 20% each Lack of labour availability, rising labour costs and the advent of newer products are the key reasons for the shift towards the use of herbicides. India is also witnessing a shift from low value – high quantity pesticides to high value – low quantity pesticides. Between FY01 to FY10 pesticide consumption has decreased by 0.5% CAGR in terms of volume, while in terms of value it has increased by ~8.2%

1.5. BENEFITS OF PESTICIDES:-

 1. Improving Productivity:-
Tremendous benefits have been derived from the use of pesticides in forestry, public health and the domestic sphere - and, of course, in agriculture, a sector upon which the Indian economy is largely dependent. Food grain production, which stood at a mere 50 million tonnes in 1948-49, had increased almost fourfold to 198 million tonnes by the end of 1996-97 from an estimated 169 million hectares of permanently cropped land. This result has been achieved by the use of high- yield varieties of seeds, advanced irrigation technologies and agricultural chemicals.

 2. Protect Crop losses/yield reduction:- In medium land rice even under puddle conditions during the critical period warranted an effective and economic weed control practice to prevent a reduction in rice yield due to weeds that ranged from 28 to 48% based on comparisons that included control (weedy) plots43.Weeds reduce yield of dry land crops43 by 37-79%. Severe infestation of weeds particularly in early stage of crop establishment ultimately accounts for a yield reduction of 40%. Herbicides provided an economic and labour benefit too.

 3.Vector Disease Control:- Vector-borne diseases are most effectively tackled by killing the vectors. Insecticides are often the only practical way to control the insects that spread deadly diseases such as malaria that results in an estimated 5000 deaths each day (Ross, 2005). In 2004, Bhatia wrote that malaria is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the developing world and a major public health problem in India.

 4. Quality of Food: -
In the countries of first world, it is now observed that a diet containing fresh fruit and vegetables far outweigh potential risks from eating very low residues of pesticides in crops.27 Increasing evidence (Dietary Guidelines, 2005) shows that eating fruit and vegetables regularly reduces the risk of many cancers, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and other chronic diseases. Lewis et al (2005) discussed the nutritional properties of apples and blueberries in the US diet and concluded that their high concentrations of antioxidants act as protectants against cancer, heart disease. Lewis attributed doubling in wild blueberry production and subsequent increases in consumption chiefly to herbicide use that improved weed control.

 5. Other area-Transport, Sport Complex, Building:-
The transport sector makes extensive use of pesticides, particularly herbicides. Herbicides and insecticides are used to maintain the turf on sports pitches, cricket grounds and golf courses. Insecticides protect buildings and other wooden structures from damage by termites and wood boring insects.

1.6. HAZARDS OF PESTICIDES:-

 1. Direct Impact On Human Being:-
If the credits of pesticides include enhanced economic potential in terms of increased production of food and fiber, and amelioration of vector-borne diseases, then their debits have resulted in serious health implications to man and his environment. There is now overwhelming evidence that some of these chemicals do pose potential risk to humans and other life forms and unwanted side effects to the environment (17-19). No segment of the population is completely protected against exposure to pesticides and the potentially serious health effects, though a disproportionate burden is shouldered by the people of developing countries and by high risk groups in each country20. The world-wide deaths and chronic illnesses due to pesticide poisoning number about 1 million per year. The high risk groups exposed to pesticides include the production workers, formulators, sprayers, mixers, loaders and agricultural farm workers. During manufacture and formulation, the possibility of hazards may be more because the processes involved are not risk free. In industrial settings, the workers are at increased risk since they handle various toxic chemicals including pesticides, raw materials, toxic solvents and inert carriers. In India, the first report of poisoning due to pesticides was from Kerala in 1958, where over 100 people died after consuming wheat flour contaminated with parathion2. This prompted the Special Committee on Harmful Effects of Pesticides constituted by the ICAR to focus attention on the problem3. Further, Carlson in 1962 warned that OC compounds could pollute the tissues of virtually every life form on the earth, the air, the lakes and the oceans, the fishes that live in them and the birds that feed on the fishes Later, the US National Academy of Sciences stated that the DDT metabolite, DDE causes eggshell thinning and that the bald eagle population in the United States declined primarily because of exposure to DDT and its metabolites.