Oxidative stress promotion Disturbance of the...

Oxidative stress promotion: Disturbance of the prooxidant-antioxidant balance in favour of the former is termed as oxidative stress (Aly et al. 2010; Uchendu et al. 2012). The outcome of this multistep process is tissue damage which builds a path from the onset of tissue damage through diseases to finally apoptosis (Agrawal and Sharma 2010). Damage induced by oxidative stress occurs through the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which includes oxygen derived free radicals such as superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical and non radical derivatives as hydrogen peroxide (Tebourbi et al. 2011; Verma et al. 2007). ROS induces alterations and damage to macromolecules like lipids and proteins, most common phenomena being lipid peroxidation†¦show more content†¦Pyrethroids also interfere with Ca balance. They inhibit both Ca-ATPase and Ca-MgATPase. This results in impact on neurotransmitter release and inhibition of Ca uptake (Coats 1990). Xenobiotics may enhance the sensitization to allergens because of their modulating effect on T-cells. Neoantigen formation, metabolism of xenobiotics into reactive-haptenic metabolites, induction of costimulatory enzymes and sensitization of T-cells can give rise to autoimmunity and allergies (Reichrtova et al. 1999). Health Impacts of pesticide exposure: Human exposure whether directly or through diet may result in acute and delayed health effects. Food contaminated with toxic pesticides is associated with severe effects on human health (Kaushik et al. 2009, Forget 1991; Amoguis et al. 2010; Androutsopoulos et al. 2012). WHO estimates show that over 500,000 people died from self poisoning in South East Asia and Western Pacific during 2000 alone (WHO 2001; Litchfield 2005). In developing countries, the estimated annual incidence rate in agricultural workers was found to be 18.2 per 100 000 full-time workers and 7.4 per million school children (Bolognesi and Merlo 2011). In India, poisoning due to pesticides was first reported in 1958 in Kerela where over more than 100 people died after consuming parathion contaminated wheat flour (Karunakaran 1958) and the proportion has been quite