ABSTRACT
Pesticide is a common term that describes various classes of insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides, wood preservatives, and household disinfectants. They are mainly used in agriculture to safeguard crops from insects, weeds, and bacterial or fungal diseases during growth and to protect foods during storage from rats, insects, and/or different biological contaminants. Pesticides vary in the physical, chemical, and other properties from one class to other. The use of pesticides was known to ancient civilizations. Ancient Sumerians used sulphur to protect their crops from insects, while medieval farmers used chemicals using arsenic and lead on common crops. Pesticide toxicity may cause many diseases, including metabolic syndrome, malnutrition, atherosclerosis, inflammation, pathogen invasion, nerve injury, and susceptibility to infectious diseases. After going through this chapter, the reader will be familiar with pesticides and their classification, the effects of pesticide toxicity, measurement of toxicity, and the mechanisms of action and impacts of pesticides on human health and environment. The chapter also describes the methods of diagnosing and treating pesticide poisoning and how to handle them.
