PROPERTIES OF ORGANOPHOSPHATES.
For the WORKSHOP ON RESEARCH ON ORGANOPHOSPHATES
28th March 2000
JOANNA WHEATLEY
References to animals include men, women and, most importantly,
children.
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CONTENTS
ORGANO PHOSPHATE MOBILITY
ORGANO PHOSPHATE BREAKDOWN
THE EFFECTS OF ORGANO PHOSPHATES ARE CUMULATIVE
FAIL-SAFES
RESEARCH INTO ORGANO PHOSPHATES
FURTHER RESEARCH [A
need for adequate surveillance |
Distribution and use of existing research knowledge]
ORGANO PHOSPHATE MOBILITY
- Most OPs are readily translocated in living organisms.
- Many have the ability to travel to every cell in the body. Hence their
usefulness in parasite control where application to an animal will result in
both internal and external parasites being killed.
- Some have greater residual properties than others, therefore bestowing the
treated animal with weeks of protection.
- Some are lipophilic and are thus attracted to and maybe temporarily stored
in lipids which are found more in some cells than others, e.g. lipid-rich
brain cells. Lipids are also found in the structure of membranes sometimes as
phospholipids, which also happen to use the enzyme cholinesterase, which is
known to be affected by OPs.
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ORGANO PHOSPHATE BREAKDOWN
- OPs are considered to break down relatively quickly, providing
insect-killing properties which do not leave long term residues.
- OPs break down through a process of phosphorylation, oxidative
phosphorylation, alkylation, and, for methylated OPs, methylation.
- All these chemical breakdown processes are utilised at a molecular level
to provide energy.
- Phosphorylation is employed to fuel the signalling process on membrane
surfaces.
- Oxidative phosphorylation is the energy which drives the powerhouses of
the cells, the mitochondria. [Or so the story goes-RW...] The enzyme cyclic
AMP is almost ubiquitously used for its oxidative phosphorylating processes in
transcription and reception for the hormone and immune system, both within the
cell and on its outer surface.
- Methylation is the fuel employed by the DNA in the cell nucleus in the
transcription and reception of mRNA, which are sent as signals or instructions
including those for hormones and the immune system.
- There are further reactions of importance also fuelled by OPs such as
alkylation.
- Thus in their very process of breaking down OPs can provide an unnatural
extra fuel to essential molecular reactions.
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THE EFFECTS OF ORGANO PHOSPHATES ARE CUMULATIVE
- A short burst of the energy provided by OP exposure should be quickly and
easily burnt up, as long as the exposure does not constitute an overdose or a
lethal dose.
- Compounds which break down quickly obviously would have different
properties to those which are stored and broken-down more slowly. Although
slower breakdown may avoid acute effects it may add to risks from re-exposure
and have synergistic effects on other treatments.
- Re-exposure and sustained low-level exposure effectively provide
continuous low level added intracellular energy. Which must result in stress
to the systems involved, distress if sustained, with eventual burn out if
there is no respite.
- Commercial preparations of OPs contain additives, such as dispersal
solvents, adjuvants, and, when applied externally, wetters and surfactants to
stick to the coat and penetrate the epidermis. All of these compounds have
their own toxicological effect.
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FAIL-SAFES
- Every animal is equipped with a complex system of fail-safes and barriers,
which are designed to sift out and protect from toxins and unnatural
compounds.
- Toxins that are ingested will initially need to pass barriers in the gut.
However OPs provide fuel, the raw constituents of which are provided from what
we eat. The extent to which the gut is able to break down OPs, and the fact
that they contain basic constituents for fuelling cellular activity which
travel on to be used by bodily systems, should be considered and understood.
- Toxins applied to the skin must pass the epidermis, yet we know from the
commercial uses and applications of OPs these can very efficiently travel
through the skin.
- The liver can be an efficient filter as long as it is not damaged, or
becomes damaged through intermittent assault and chronic overload.
- Membranes are another barrier, not only around cells, in varying degrees
of speciality but around organs, creating for example the blood brain barrier,
or the myelin sheath. Yet a cell's thirst for the energy that OPs can provide
may well override the membrane barriers. In fact at membrane level they my be
used and broken down, incorporated and stored for later use or passed through
to the internal cell for use.
- Within the cell trace elements and minerals are utilised in further
detoxification processes, but these resources may be deficient, or the cell's
ability to utilise them damaged.
- Finally, should OPs reach the nucleus membrane their fuel is still of use,
and hence has a passport to enter the very heart of cellular knowledge and
instruction. Hence the attribution of some OPs to be mutagenic and
teratogenic.
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RESEARCH INTO ORGANO PHOSPHATES
- Existing research into the toxicological effects of OPs is extensive and
has been internationally accumulating for nearly a century. It reveals
broad-ranging damage can occur to neurological, immunological, and endocrine
systems. OPs can invoke gastric, cardiac, respiratory malfunctions and
allergic response.
- As scientific research techniques improve greater and more accurate
knowledge of these effects have been recorded.
- Although recorded extensively in research journals there is a lack of
application to the actual situation. For example Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
[CFS] is exactly the collection of symptoms one would expect from chronic
exposure to OPs and mirrors much of what is listed in Health and Safety
document MS17. Yet it has taken years to obtain any acceptance that this
condition could be associated with OP poisoning, even when those exhibiting
the syndrome have recorded excessive exposures.
- When OP poisoning is not diagnosed and exposure continues, the whole
system becomes stressed, and which functions and organs become affected, will
be dependant on the compounds exposed to, and the other synergists present in
the environment.
- These include ALL treatment exposures. This is a statement published by
WHO in the book Organophosphorus pesticides: A General Introduction
Ref. 6.2.3 Effects on the immune system. In a review by Zackov (1983) it was
stated that "most … organophosphorus pesticides elicit autoimmune reactions
and suppress antibodies against vaccines"
- Past illnesses or toxicological damage which may have previously weakened
specific organs or functions will naturally exhibit heightened stress and
malfunction. As will the complex genetic strengths and weaknesses we inherit
which make us all individual and creates our species strength through its
complex genetic diversity.
- This is particularly pertinent when considering recent generations
exposure to OPs when initially developing in the womb. Foetal exposure to OPs
is recorded to cause sometimes gross mutagenic effect, and occasionally
teratogenic effects. Yet subtle intracellular weakness created by OPs at
initial development may create pathways to disease susceptibility in life
particularly when the initiating toxins are present.
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FURTHER RESEARCH
A need for adequate surveillance.
- A proper and adequate independent surveillance system for both humans and
animals should exist. The same organisation as passes the products fit for use
should not investigate adverse reactions and illness claimed to emanate
from those products.
- This is as essential for animals as it is for humans, we can learn a great
deal from the animal experience. Animals are a living experiment in a
real-life, not controlled laboratory situation, with a shorter life span. I
recommend to you as I have to others a surveillance tool devised by Mrs
Wolferstan FRCVS, to collate and interpret veterinary and farm husbandry and
health on farms. It is my belief a tool such as this should be applied as part
of post-licensing surveillance of products.
- Inadequate surveillance of human adverse reactions was confirmed in the
COT [Committee on Toxicology] report by the fact that it stated it could gain
no meaningful data from the existing surveillance systems. I can only remind
this workshop again of the recommendation of the 5th Agricultural Select
Committee in 1995 that 'Human surveillance should be removed from the VMD.
[Veterinary Medicines Directorate] This responsibility should be carried
out instead by an independent research institute or university department.'
- I wrote extensively to the COT working group with regard to the essential
need of our modern day ever-increasingly toxic environment, for this as a
fundamental medical right, and of the useful information and knowledge that
could flow from such centres to the medical communities, which may lead to
better treatments and awareness of dangers.
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Distribution and use of existing
research knowledge
- The book Clinical and Experimental Toxicology of Organophosphates and
Carbamates by Ballantyne and Marrs should be reprinted and placed in all
medical libraries, it is to my knowledge the finest collection of research
into the effects of OPs. Its contents should be observed by specialists in the
areas documented, and it should be discussed in the education of our aspiring
doctors and vets.
- I am most anxious that public money is not wasted on further research into
areas which already abound with published evidence. COT has considered effects
to the neurological system but a serious and comprehensive review of the
available literature on OP effects on the hormone, immune, and enzyme systems
should be undertaken, with the view that OPs may be causative and or
exacerbating agents to identified illnesses.
- With regard to the transmissible diseases such as spongiform
encephalopathies particular note should be taken of the circumstances under
which they initially emanate. There may be one of a number of toxicologically
induced neurological diseases which become transmissible by passing certain
tissues in certain pharmaceutical preparations. This area does require
investigation, as does the situation quoted earlier… Effects on the immune
system. In a review by Zackov (1983) it was stated that "most …
organophosphorus pesticides elicit autoimmune reactions and suppress
antibodies against vaccines" Again I remind the workshop of the importance
of the above statement with regard to the animal situation, particularly when
animal tissues are sourced for pharmaceuticals. This area should be fully
discussed with relationship to Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies and
ongoing research.
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JOANNA WHEATLEY
Joannasbeef@compuserve.com
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