8. Health Effects Associated with Acute and Chronic Exposure to Pesticides

All living organisms are dynamic systems, functioning as a result of interdependent (bio) chemical reactions that are permanently maintained in an equilibrium state. Human exposure over a period of time to a complex mixture of pollutants at low level and consumption of polluted water and/or foods, is likely to significantly contribute to the human health status. Considering the time of exposure to toxicants, we can distinguish two different types of toxicity: acute toxicity (observed soon after short-time exposure to the pollutant) and chronic toxicity (resulted after long-term and/or repeated periods of exposure to lower doses of the chemical). Most of the acute effects are temporary, but may also cause coma and/or death. The chronic health effects have a latency period, which corresponds to the period of time between the first exposure and the development of the disorder. Most of the time, pesticide use involves their deliberate release into the environment for repelling, attracting, preventing, or killing any pests (target organisms) and may affect other organisms from the environment because they have relatively limited selectivity. Living organisms as well as humans are concurrently exposed to pesticides via the environment, which induces combined toxicological effects. The degree of health hazard depends on the quantity of pesticide and on the length of exposure (the dose of the pollutant). In this paper are presented general aspects on toxicology and clinical toxicology in view of the relationship exposure to pesticides – effects on human health.