This enzyme is responsible for the destruction and termination of the biological activity of the neurotransmitter - ACETYLCHOLINE.
Acetylcholine is found
- in the Parasympathetic Nervous System,
- at ganglia in both the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous Systems,
- at nerve endings controlling skeleletal muscle activity
- and in the brain.
If the enzyme system (cholinesterases) are inactivated by the organophosphate insecticides - the build up of acetylcholine can lead to symptoms in humans such as: increased salivation, nausea, vomiting, tightness in chest, cough, urinary frequency, diarrhea, lethargy and general symptoms of drowsiness, fatigue and mental confusion.
The effects of organophosphates will not reverse automatically.
Use them cautiously and always read the label for treatment in case of poisoning.
Typically the label will indicate the antidotes of ATROPINE (which competes with acetylcholine - thus reducing its action) and 2-PAM (which reactivates the inhibited cholinesterase).
If poisoning is suspected with any type of insecticide, remember to bring the insecticide container to the doctor or hospital.
As indicated above, methyl parathion is an example of an organophosphate which will inhibit the enzymes that normally destroy acetylcholine. In the March 1999 article: "Organophosphates are all designed to be neurological poisons," explains Dr. Philip Landrigan, chairman of the department of community and preventative medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. "They work fundamentally the same in humans as in insects."
"In late 1998, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which regulates pesticides, released a preliminary risk assessment of methyl parathion that concluded it posed an 'unacceptable risk' as currently allowed to be used."
We are all encouraged to eat more fruits and vegetables for better health and well being. However, with the increase consumption of valuable nutrients there is also an increase in the levels of unwanted pesticides.
In addition, children and older adults are more susceptible to the negative effects of the organophosphates than is the mature 30 year old person.
In January 1998, the Environmental Working Group called on the EPA to ban the insecticide methyl parathion in all foods consumed by children (www.ewg.org).
Their data showed: An estimated 320,000 children between the ages of one and five years old eat an unsafe dose of methyl parathion in their food every day.
More than 55,000 of those children exceed the safe dose of methyl parathion by a factor of ten or more each day, and 2,400 children ages one through five exceed the safe daily dose by more than 100-fold.
Methyl parathion is so toxic that a five-year old can not eat an apple with any detectable methyl parathion on it without being exposed to an unsafe dose of the pesticide. Some apples and peaches are so contaminated that just two bites (4 to 7 grams) are unsafe for children under age six. Any other organophosphate exposure in food, at home, at school, in water or in the air will only push that child's daily exposure to these compounds further into the zone that the EPA already considers unsafe.
A vast literature compiled by the Agency makes clear that such exposures are a fact of daily life for children in the United States, and will continue until strong action is taken to severely restrict or ban a number of organophosphate insecticides now on the market.
The reader is urged to check out the site www.ewg.org for more information on all the insecticides in fruits and vegetables.
Click on picture to review the use of malathion spraying (during the Summer/Fall 1999) in New York.
