Pesticides

Poisonous chemicals used to eradicate pests. Different types include herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. Pesticide poisoning, particularly in children, may result from swallowing an insecticide or a garden herbicide (see chlorate poisoning). Poisoning may also occur in agricultural workers, often as a result of inhalation or absorption of the chemical through the skin. Exposure to pesticides can also occur indirectly, through eating food in which chemicals have accumulated as a result of crop spraying. (See also DDT; defoliant poisoning; lindane; paraquat; parathion.)