The dissertation deals with the toxicological and hygienic evaluation, standardization and regulation of insecticides of the tetramic and tetronic acids derivatives class in Ukraine in order to minimize their potentially harmful effects on professional and non-professional contingents, objects of agrocenosis (air, plants, soil, water). In modern agriculture, intensive technologies are widely implemented, application rates are increasing, and the assortment of pesticides is constantly expanding. The need to increase the safety of pesticides requires constant improvement of formulations, optimization of application rates and technologies.
One of the ways to solve this problem is to use pesticides with a new mechanism of action, to which pests have not yet developed resistance. After all, many of the most popular formulations in Ukraine, as it turned out, have a particularly high risk of resistance. In 2020, a new class of insecticides derived from tetramic and tetronic acids, represented by spiromesifen, spirodiclofen and spirotetramat, was introduced into the system of chemical protection of agricultural crops.
We studied the modern insecticidal formulation Oberon Rapid 240 SC based on the new active substance spiromesifen and the previously studied abamectin, which is intended for the treatment of garden (apples, grapes) and seed (corn, sunflower) crops. Spiromesifen is a chemical compound with two mechanisms of action on the organism of warm-blooded animals and humans: it induces microsomal liver enzymes and inhibits 4- hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase. Therefore, as a representative of a new class of insecticides, the substance needs comprehensive study and regulation. Therefore is what became the task of our work: based on data from literature sources and official Internet resources, we conducted an analysis of the Oberon Rapid 240 SC and both of its active substances' toxic properties, carried out a toxicological and hygienic assessment, established a hazard class, based on our own natural experiments studied the behaviour and carried out the substantiation of spiromesifen and abamectin norms in environmental objects, gave an assessment of the danger for professional and non-professional contingents, the environment of the studied insecticides.
According to the current hygienic classification of pesticides by degree of hazard StateStandard 8.8.1.002-98, this formulation belongs to 2nd class, and the limiting criterion is acute inhalation toxicity; spiromesifen belongs to the 3rd class of hazard according to the limiting criterion – acute inhalation toxicity; abamectin – hazard class 1, limiting criteria – oral and inhalation toxicity; spirodiclofen belongs to the 2nd class by carcinogenicity and sensitization, and spirotetramat belongs to the 3rd class of hazard (acute inhalation toxicity).
The acceptable daily dose (ADD) level of spiromesifen was substantiated at 0.01 mg/kg based on the lowest NO(A)EL value, established for parental generations in the reproductive toxicity study experiment in rats – 3.3-4.6 mg/kg and NO(A)EL by general toxicity in the study of carcinogenicity in CD-1 mice – 3.3-3.8 mg/kg; a safety coefficient
– 200.
An analysis of the array of data on toxicological parameters and physicochemical properties was carried out in order to develop a calculation method for predicting the toxicity of insecticides. It was established that no reliable correlation was found for the classes of compounds to which the active substances of the formulation belong (derivatives of tetramic and tetronic acids and avermectins). This may be due to the small number of substances in the group and requires further analysis of these classes of pesticides.
