A database on pesticides in Italy: a progress report.

An existing database on pesticides, running in the DOS/Windows environment, is operative at the National Institute of Health and has yielded useful informations for several published researches. The database is currently being restructured for the purpose of making it available on the Web. An HTML interface, allowing to formulate queries on the database from the Web is presently under development, and it will be made available, once the problems related to confidentiality of certain parts of the database are solved. The database in its present form is presented and necessary changes foreseen in the Web edition are discussed.

[Agricultural antiparasitics evaluated for their potential cancerogenic, mutagenic and toxic reproductive effects]. / Antiparassitari agricoli valutati per potenziali effetti cancerogeni, mutageni E tossico-riproduttivi.

This paper reviews the evaluations of the potential carcinogenic, mutagenic and toxic-reproductive effects of the active ingredients and solvents contained in the pesticide products used in Italy. The information on the products (name and CAS number of the active ingredients and of the solvents, number of the products in which they are present, and the range of concentration percentages of a.i.) were obtained from the Pesticide Registry, a database operating at the Italian National Institute of Health since 1985. The evaluations of the toxic effects of these products are those which have been formulated by the Italian National Advisory Toxicological Committee, the European Union, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States. The aim of this study was to present an ample organic review of the main information issued by national and international centers on pesticides, chemicals of wide occupational use and diffusion in the environment. The presence is highlighted of some substances with carcinogenic potential (for example, 1,3-dichloropropene, alachlor, formaldehyde) for which it is therefore, necessary to carry out a careful risk assessment regarding exposure to many substances for which further study is indicated, and for others which have not, so far, produced toxic effects (bentazon, cypermetrin). Benzene "a proven human carcinogen" was present in three products. In addition, the presence was observed out of mixtures of active ingredients and solvents for which clear evidence of carcinogenic and/or reproductive toxicity exists. This information can be useful to assess the carcinogenic risk associated to pesticides in the occupationally exposed population, as also established in official regulations.

Solvents in pesticides.

Solvents are extensively used in pesticide formulations. This study concerns the solvents notified to the Italian Registry of Pesticides, which has information on approximately 8000 pesticide formulations. Solvents with evidence of carcinogenicity in humans or animals, including benzene, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,4-dioxane, and 2-nitropropane, have been notified for use in pesticides. Exposure to such solvents could partly explain some of the reported excesses of leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among farmers.