Terminology related to Pollution

Rapid Bioassay of Pesticide Residues (RBPR):

• Rapid Bioassay of Pesticide Residues (RBPR) is a technique for detecting the presence of harmful pesticides in food or environmental samples. It is based on the principle that some pesticides can inhibit the activity of certain enzymes or microorganisms that are sensitive to them. For example, organophosphates and carbamates can inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) that is essential for nerve function. By measuring the degree of inhibition, one can estimate the level of pesticide residues in the sample.

• There are different methods for RBPR, such as using housefly AChE1, Bacillus thuringiensis, or near-infrared spectroscopy. These methods are designed to be simple, fast, and low-cost, but they may not be very accurate or specific for different types of pesticides. Therefore, they are usually used as screening tools for food safety monitoring and detection, and may need to be confirmed by more sophisticated analytical techniques.

Bioaccumulation of insecticides: The accumulation of insecticides in various biological systems is called bio-accumulation.

Bio magnification of toxicant:

• Bio magnification of toxicant is the phenomenon of increasing concentration of persistent, toxic substances in organisms at each trophic level, from the primary producers to the apex consumers

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• This occurs because these substances are metabolized and excreted much more slowly than the nutrients that are passed from one trophic level to the next. Some examples of substances that biomagnify are DDT, PCBs, and heavy metals.

Survey

• An official procedure conducted over a defined period of time to determine the characteristics of a pest population to determination which species occur in an area, specific data, and specific pest in certain time.
• On simple terms, it is an act of studying something in order to make a judgment about it.

Pest Risk Analysis (PRA)

• Pest Risk analysis is a process of investigation, evaluation of information and decision making with respect to a certain pest that starts once it is known or determined that this pest is a quarantine pest.

Quarantine pest:

• A pest of potential economic importance to the area endangered thereby and not yet present there, or present but not widely distributed and being officially controlled.

Why and when is a PRA done?

• Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) is done to protect the country’s agriculture from damages that can be caused by harmful (quarantine) pests which can be brought in along with imported commodities.
• PRA evaluates the likelihood of the entry, establishment, or spread of a pest and the associated potential biological and economic consequences.

Maximum Residue Limit (MRL):

• It is value estimated for pesticides in food.
• It is maximum permissible quantity of a pesticide in food stuff.
• It is the concentration of a residue in or on a food when first offered for consumption.
• It is expressed in ppm of fresh weight of food. Malathion= 0.5 to 8 ppm.

Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI):

• It is the daily dose of chemical which during an entire life time, appears to be without appreciable risk on the basis of all facts known at that time. It is expressed in mg/kg body weight/day.

Withholding period (WP)/Waiting period:

• It is period of time given for a pesticide to degrade and reduce its level of toxicity to a safer level, after its application. It depends on Chemical, dose, crop treated and method of application.

Waiting period of various insecticides and their hazard categories