ABSTRACT
The use of biocides for pest and disease control in crop production has played an important role in the past, and will continue to do so in the future to ensure adequate food supply for the growing world population. While biocides play an important role in increasing yields, questions have been raised concerning their effects on human health and the environment. The generic term biocide includes herbicides, weedicides, arboricides, insecticides, pesticides, larvicides, fungicides, miticides, rodenticides, acaricides, nematocides, molluscicides, and related substances. Public health problems in the tropics, in which mosquito related diseases alone afflict millions, make the use of biocides for disease vector control unavoidable in the short term. In tropical soils, many biocides leach or decompose more rapidly than in temperate zone soils. Poisonings and sub-clinical intoxication by biocides are common in the prime cotton-growing regions of Central America. Domestic animals are exposed to biocides in high-use regions at least as much as humans.
