Prevention of health damage caused by agrochemical substances

Present paper refers to prevention of health damage caused by agrochemical substances in Czechoslovakia. Authors introduce criteria for the approval of agrochemicals in agriculture [altogether a list of 526 pesticides in 1981]. In socialist countries uniform maximum permissible levels of pesticides in foodstuffs and uniform analytical methods are being established. The necessity of epidemiological studies and that of monitoring pesticide residues in the environment are stressed. During 1973-78 altogether 80 cases of occupational poisoning by pesticides were notified in Slovakia; out of them 45 being severe and 3 lethal ones. Emphasis is given to the need of systematic checking of the use of pesticides in agriculture from the health prevention point of view.