Herbicides
Chemistry, Efficacy, Toxicology, and Environmental Impacts
- 1st Edition - June 23, 2021
- Imprint: Elsevier
- Editors: Robin Mesnage, Johann G. Zaller
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 8 2 3 6 7 4 - 1
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 8 2 3 6 7 5 - 8
Herbicides: Chemistry, Efficacy, Toxicology, and Environmental Impacts addresses contemporary debates on herbicide toxicology. The reader is offered a comprehensive overview… Read more
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Request a sales quoteHerbicides: Chemistry, Efficacy, Toxicology, and Environmental Impacts addresses contemporary debates on herbicide toxicology. The reader is offered a comprehensive overview of this complex topic, presented by internationally recognized experts. Information presented will inform discussions on the use of herbicides in modern agricultural and other systems, and their potential non-target effects on human populations and various ecosystems. The book covers these matters in concise language appropriate to engage both specialists in the research community and informed persons responsible for legislative, funding, and public health matters in the community at large.
The use of herbicides is an essential pillar of modern agricultural production systems. Weeds, if uncontrolled, would reduce crop yield and result in massive economic damage. Recently, the heavy reliance on single herbicides has been linked to the development of weed resistance. To combat resistant weeds, farmers are advised to use a mix of several herbicides and to increase herbicide application rates. As a result, the toxicity of herbicides on human health and the environment has become a controversial topic.
- Offers a comprehensive overview of herbicide science in modern agricultural systems
- Addresses the complex problems that can arise from herbicide use and misuse, including weed resistance, pollution, and human health issues
- Uses recent examples to demonstrate the topical nature of this issue
Researchers in academia, industry, and government including analytical chemists, toxicologists, soil scientists, biologists, ecologists, ecotoxicologists, entomologists, agricultural advisors, herbicide regulators, policy personnel, public health officials, and herbicide researchers. Advanced undergraduate and graduate level students in agriculture, public health, medicine, toxicology, ecotoxicology, sustainability research, and plant chemistry
- Cover image
- Title page
- Table of Contents
- Copyright
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1: Herbicides: Brief history, agricultural use, and potential alternatives for weed control
- Abstract
- What is a herbicide?
- What is a weed? It depends
- A very brief history of weed control
- The Green Revolution
- Herbicides in current weed management
- Herbicides versus nonchemical methods
- Dynamics of the market and development of new herbicides
- Herbicide use patterns
- Conclusions
- 2: A minimum data set for tracking changes in pesticide use
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Pesticide use metrics
- Changes in glyphosate-based herbicide use in the United States
- Glyphosate-based herbicide use on soybeans in the United States: A case study
- Conclusions and research challenges
- 3: Herbicide mode of action
- Abstract
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Classification of target sites of action
- Herbicides of broad cytotoxicity
- Contact herbicides not translocated in plants
- Acropetally translocated herbicides
- Basipetally translocated herbicides
- Conclusions
- 4: Coformulants in commercial herbicides
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Classification and function of coformulants
- POEA surfactants: Structure-toxicity relationship
- Impurities in surfactants
- Enhancement of dermal penetration by surfactants
- Confusion on the composition of formulated herbicides
- Regulation of coformulants
- Toxicity in humans
- Conclusions
- 5: Analytical strategies to measure herbicide active ingredients and their metabolites
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Analytical strategies
- Chemical particularities
- Development strategies
- Method validation
- 6: Mammalian toxicity of herbicides used in intensive GM crop farming
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Glyphosate
- Glufosinate
- Dicamba
- 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)
- Mesotrione
- Isoxaflutole
- Quizalofop (p-ethyl and p-tefuryl)
- Sulfonylurea and imidazolinones
- Atrazine
- Chloroacetamides (metolachlor, alachlor, and acetochlor)
- Paraquat
- Concluding remarks and recommendations
- 7: Direct herbicide effects on terrestrial nontarget organisms belowground and aboveground
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Soil contamination
- Nontarget plants
- Effects on belowground fauna
- Effects on aboveground fauna
- Conclusions
- 8: Indirect herbicide effects on biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and interactions with global changes
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Herbicide transport: From local to global
- Plant diversity and food webs
- Ecosystem functions: Litter decomposition and nutrient cycling
- Ecosystem service: Crop disease control
- Global change and other environmental stressors
- Adaptations, multiple applications, and interactions with other pesticides
- Conclusions
- 9: Analytical strategies to measure toxicity and endocrine-disrupting effects of herbicides: Predictive toxicology
- Abstract
- Introduction
- From food tasters to modern rodent bioassays
- OECD guidelines for the testing of chemicals
- Designing animal bioassays to inform human health risk assessment
- Predicting long-term effects with high-throughput and short-term assays
- High-throughput omics approaches
- Herbicides in the era of big data
- Remarks
- 10: Glyphosate as an active substance authorized under EU pesticide regulations: Regulatory principles and procedures
- Abstract
- Introduction
- The pesticide regulations embedded in an economic common playing field
- The pesticide regulations epitomizing specific features of EU regulatory governance
- Additional precautionary features of the pesticide regulations: Cut-off hazard-based criteria and substitution
- Procedures for approval of active substances and for authorization of plant protection products
- Level of harm
- Burden of proof
- Inclusion of glyphosate as an active substance in EU pesticide legislation
- Renewal of the authorization of glyphosate as an active substance
- European citizens’ initiative
- Actions for annulment of Commission implementing regulation (EU) 2017/23241
- Validity of the pesticide regulations in light of the precautionary principle
- Validity of the restrictions placed by the member states on the use of glyphosate
- Access to information
- Conclusions
- Case law on the validity of glyphosate in the EU legal order
- 11: Herbicides: A necessary evil? An integrative overview
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Avoiding a technological dead end in weed management
- Toward a better measure of herbicide use across time and space
- Monitoring exposure to herbicide mixtures in food and human matrices
- What are the health effects of herbicides in humans?
- Underneath herbicide product labels: The role of coformulants
- Toxicity on other species, biodiversity loss, and the environment
- When research on herbicide effects is ripped apart by corporate interests
- Weed management for a resilient Earth system
- Index
- Edition: 1
- Published: June 23, 2021
- No. of pages (Paperback): 366
- No. of pages (eBook): 366
- Imprint: Elsevier
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN: 9780128236741
- eBook ISBN: 9780128236758
RM
Robin Mesnage
Dr. Robin Mesnage is a toxicologist in the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics at King’s College London. His research focus over the last 10 years has been on the safety evaluation of pesticides. He has published more than 50 scientific articles on the subject. He specialises in using molecular profiling and genomic science to improve the sensitivity of chemical toxicity testing and better predict health risks arising from pesticide exposure. He also provides expert consulting on the risk assessment of pesticides and services to clinicians, including the analysis of complex biological data such as DNA sequencing of the gut microbiome.
Affiliations and expertise
Toxicologist, Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, King’s College London, UKJZ
Johann G. Zaller
Dr. Johann G. Zaller is an ecologist at the Department of Integrative Biology and Biodiversity Research at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna in Austria. He studies effects of land management and global change factors on organisms, ecosystem processes, and services. Within these topics, he has investigated effects of various pesticides on soil biota, amphibians, plants, and their interactions with other factors such as landscape structure, management intensity, temperature, and soil types. He has published 90+ papers and is currently an editorial board member of three journals. He also published popular science books on pesticides and their non-target effects in German, Italian and English.
Affiliations and expertise
Ecologist in the Department of Integrative Biology and Biodiversity Research at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna in AustriaRead Herbicides on ScienceDirect