WA8 Global Perspectives: Pesticide Risk Assessment in Developing Countries
A105 & A106
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Wednesday
() Effects of pesticides on non-target organisms in Nigeria.
Badejo, M. A., Sosan, M.B.,
ABSTRACT- Extensive literature search has revealed that studies on the effectiveness of many commonly used pesticides on the target organisms have been carried out extensively in Nigeria but their side effects remain largely unknown. Thus, ecotoxicological research on pesticides in Nigeria is in its infancy when compared with research in the parent fields of experimental ecology and toxicology. Notable among the few ecotoxicological investigations on pesticides in Nigeria are field studies in which the side effects of chemical control of tsetse flies were carried out. The populations of non-target species of arthropods were reduced significantly in these studies, which revealed further that the selectivity of the insecticides were not adequately complemented by ecological safety. Studies on the effects of pre-emergence herbicides such as atrazine, hexazinone and galex on soil microarthropods have revealed initial deleterious effects on the microarthropods, followed by various recovery patterns, which were group-specific. Potential indicators of the side effects of these herbicides were identified as springtails (Collembola), oribatid mites (Acarina), and booklice (Psocoptera). Data on the direct toxicity of these pesticides to aquatic organisms are very scanty.
Key words: side-effects, indicators, pesticides, microarthropods