ABSTRACT
The US Environmental Protection Agency has sharply curtailed the availability of many organochlorines, particularly DDT, dieldrin, heptachlor, mirex, chlordecone, and chlordane. Others, however, are the active ingredients of various home and garden products and some agricultural, structural, and environmental pest control products. In varying degrees, organochlorines are absorbed from the gut and also by the lung and across the skin. The efficiency of dermal absorption is variable. The chief toxic action of the organochlorine pesticides is on the nervous system, where these compounds interfere with fluxes of cations across nerve cell membranes, increasing neuronal irritability. Early manifestations of poisoning by some organochlorine pesticides, particularly DDT, are often sensory disturbances: hyperesthesia and paresthesia of the face and extremities. Organochlorine pesticides or their metabolites can sometimes be identified in blood by gas-liquid chromatographic examination of samples taken within a few days of significant pesticide absorption.
