Assessment of pesticide residue levels in cow’s milk from agricultural rural regions in Nadia district, West Bengal

Biswas, Shuvayan (2019) Assessment of pesticide residue levels in cow’s milk from agricultural rural regions in Nadia district, West Bengal. Masters thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

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Abstract

In developing countries, urban areas are more susceptible towards pesticide contamination and greater risk of pesticide related illness compared to agricultural rural areas. To investigate this, concentrations of various pesticides are measured in cow’s milk, sampled from agricultural rural areas of Nadia district. Concentration of Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were measured. 28 Samples were taken from various locations and kept in a freezing temperature. Then were extracted and measured the concentration of various OCPs using GC-MS. The results were as we expected. The pesticide contamination on those samples were very negligible. Only p,p’-DDD were detected in 6 samples. And that also were very insignificant amount. Way below the Maximum residue limit (MRL). Thus, we can conclude that, in this region, the agricultural practices are done organically. With recent agricultural developments, people are leaning towards pest resistant crops rather than using pesticides. Due to DDEs long lasting nature, it used to circulate in the environment for long period of time. So, that might be the reason its presence even after long term ban. Insignificant amount of pesticides suggest that people of selected location are using good agricultural practices and the location is pretty safe against pesticide related illness.

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