Experimental study of the effect of a series of phosphoroorganic pesticides (Dipterex and Imidan) on embryogenesis.

Experiments conducted on pregnant Wistar rats show that chlorophos (Dipterex) has embroyotoxic and teratogenic effects after oral introduction in a 80 mg/kg dose during a critical period of embryogenesis. Embryotoxic and teratogenic effects are absent during the introduction of 8 mg/kg of the pesticide. The oral introduction of phthalophos (Imidan) in a 30 mg/kg dose once on day 9 of pregnancy and the introduction of a 1.5 mg/kg dose daily throughout the course of pregnancy caused increased postimplantation mortality of embryos. A dose of 30 mg/kg of phthalophos on day 9 or day 13 of pregnancy causes developmental abnormalities, including hyponathia and hydrocephaly. A 0.06 mg/kg phthalophos dose does not affect the course of embryogenesis in white rats. Thus the organophosphate pesticides Dipterex and Imidan exhibit embryotoxic and teratogenic effects at doses which significantly exceed the acutal amounts of the pesticide that can enter the human organism.