Acute Exposure Research Paper

When a farmer is exposed to a single dose of a pesticide, the incidence is referred to as acute exposure and the effect is called acute toxicity. Acute toxicity refers to how poisonous a pesticide is to an organism after a single short-term exposure (Table 1). If the exposure is through contact with skin, it would be regarded as an acute dermal exposure and the toxicity is called acute dermal toxicity. Similarly, acute oral exposure refers to a single dose of a pesticide taken by mouth and acute inhalation exposure refers to a single dose inhaled. The acute toxicity is used to describe toxic effects which typically appear immediately or within a day (24 h) of exposure. An active ingredient with a high acute toxicity can be lethal even when

It is measured in experimental conditions usually after a period of three months of either continuous or occasional exposure. A pesticide that has high acute toxicity does not always have high chronic toxicity. Nor does a pesticide with low acute toxicity necessarily have low chronic toxicity. For many active ingredients, the toxic effects from single acute exposure are quite different from those produced by chronic exposure. The small amount of a pesticide that is absorbed from a single exposure is rather insufficient to cause illness, but absorption of the same small amount every day continuously can cause serious chronic illness or even death. The effects of acute toxicity and chronic toxicity are dose-dependent; the greater the dose, the greater the effect. In characterizing the toxicity of a pesticide, it is evident that information is needed for the single-dose (acute) and the long-term (chronic) effects, including also information for exposure of intermediate duration. Delayed toxicity may occur many years after exposure to a