FAO, PL:CP/15
WHO/Food Add./67.32
EVALUATION OF SOME PESTICIDE RESIDUES IN FOOD
The content of this document is the result of the deliberations of the
Joint Meeting of the FAO Working Party and the WHO Expert Committee on
Pesticide Residues, which met in Geneva, 14-21 November 1966.1
1 Report of a Joint Meeting of the FAO Working Party and the WHO
Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues, FAO Agricultural Studies, in
press; Wld Hlth Org. techn. Rep. Ser., 1967, in press
DIMETHOATE
This pesticide was evaluated by the Joint Meeting of the FAO Committee
on Pesticides in Agriculture and the WHO Expert Committee on Pesticide
Residues in its 1965 report (FAO Meeting Report No. PL/1965/10/1;
WHO/Food Add./27.65). No additional data on this compound were
considered in 1966.
Comments
Short-term studies have been made on a number of species, in the rat
for as long as one year. Some observations have also been made in man,
at 3 dose levels; however, except at the lowest dose level, the number
of subjects was too small for evaluation.
It was noted that in the experiment on guinea-pigs fed with treated
vegetation the inhibition of cholinesterase activity produced by the
residue in the plant was equivalent to that produced by laboratory
grade dimethoate.
TOXICOLOGICAL EVALUATION
Level causing no toxicological effect
Rat. 5 ppm in the diet according to the weight of the animals used
in the experiment is approximately equivalent to 0.4 mg/kg
body-weight.
Man. 0.04 mg/kg body-weight per day.
Estimate of acceptable daily intake for man
0-0.004 mg/kg body-weight.
Further work desirable
Chemical composition and toxicity of the residues. Reproduction
studies in the rat.