engleski

Pesticide presence and risk in environment - benefits of biotechnology

Modern high-yield agriculture entails consumption of vast amounts of chemicals for use as fertilisers and as agents to control pests and plant diseases. Any means that will permit the plants to do this work themselves could mean a significant benefit for the environment. Pesticides represent an important economic commodity and a very broad class of chemicals. Massive amounts of pesticides are produced industrially each year, and are used in agriculture and forestry. Pesticides used in modern agriculture contribute to the overall low-level contamination of groundwater sources, but their increasing production and use contribute a significant amount to pollution of the human environment. Most of them are highly persistent and possess characteristic liposolubility, with the consequence of an augmented presence in foodstuffs. For example, atrazine is a selective triazine herbicide used to control broadleaf and grassy weeds in corn, sugarcane and other crops, and in conifer reforestation planting. Atrazine is toxicity class III - slightly toxic - but the US EPA initiated a special review that could result in restrictions or cancellation of atrazine use if health data varrant such action. Even though atrazine is declared to be a non-toxic herbicide that is used in great quantities in agriculture, its presence in the environment, its possible ingestion via the food chain and direct accidental or occupational exposure to it may present a risk for the reproductive process. Our published results indicate the influence of atrazine on the male reproductive system. According to this results more attention should be paid to the possible effects of atrazine-like xenobiotics in the environment - present in food and water - because they could induce marked changes at the cellular level of the reproductive processes and could act as so-called "endocrine disrupters". Plant biotechnology can solve these problems in the environment, because it is central to the search for effective, environmentally safe and economically sound alternatives to the use of chemical pesticides and the exhaustion of natural sources. Techniques aimed at crop improvement have been utilized for centuries, today applied plant science has overall goals: increased crop yield and quality and reduced production cost. Biotechnology is proving its value in meeting these goals. A growing number of farmers are raising corn, soybeans, and other crops developed through biotechnology that have the benefits of less pesticide use and higher yields. As with most commodities, these grains are generally blended into processed foods or animal feed. There are no indications thus far that novel crop varieties behave differently from those that have been generated by crossing and breeding over past centuries.

pesticides; atrazine; endocrine disrupters; benefits of plant biotechnology

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