Veterinary aspects of insecticides: Organophosphates

Abstract

Extract

Unlike the organochlorine insecticides, organophosphates have little potential for accumulating as residues in either animal or plant tissues because, in general, they are readily broken down to non-toxic products. The toxicity of organophosphates to vertebrates varies widely—some have acute oral toxicities of the order of 1 or 2 mg active ingredient per kg body weight, whilst others are some hundreds of times less toxic than this. In many cases toxicity is the most important factor governing their use.