Some Toxicological Aspects of Protection Forestry : a Treatise
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- A TREATISE - Protection Fore Branch No. 93 Copy No.: Date: November 1970 Forest Research Institute, Protection Fore Branch, RANGIORA. 1 .. "I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when. you looked at it the right way, did not become more complicated.," Paul Alderson 2 .. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE 3-5 INTRODUCTION 6 CHAPTER ONE 7-20 SODiill1 MONOFLUOROACETATE - COMPOUND 1080 CHAPTER TWO 21-37 DERIVATIVES OF SODIUM FLUOROACETATE CHAPTER THREE 38-45 SYSTEMIC TOXICITY AND TRANSLOCATION CHAPTER FOUR 46-48 REPRODUCTION INHIBITORS AND CHEMOSTERILANTS CHAPTER FIVE 49-53 ANALYTICAL PRCOEDURES REFERENCES 54-57 POSTSCRIPT PREFACE Toxicology, the study of toxins and poisons, is today a multi disciplinary system of knowledge which acquires and inter-relates information from many branches of science. Within the sphere of Protection Forestry, toxicology is concerned not only with biochemical and physiological derangements, but also with their ecological responses in animal and plant communities. Thus, it represents an important aspect of biochemical ecology. To those acquainted with the problems of wildlife control under the present policy of Protection Forestry it has long been obvious that, in any one of the diverse control programmes, much additional information and benefit could be obtained from a more precise definition and a clearer recognition of the toxicological aspects that form the basis of the majority of these programmes. Thus, the responsibilities of a toxicologist confronted with these problems are many-fold. Not only is he required to select, from the background of his in the various disciplines, a specific approach to a specific problem 9 but also, he must be able to inculcate in other investigators an understanding, or at least an appreciation, of the reasons for this specificity. In others words, what is required is that a symbiosis be developed between the several disciplines from which mutual benefits will acc~e not only the participants, but also at national and scientific levels. This attitude is not entirely utopian since an analogous attitude has long been adopted in forestry policy. The dictum of HMultiple Use" applies also in this instance, with exactly similar parameters of hopes, ambitions and disappointments. The days of the one-man research teams are over, and the boundaries between the several scientific and management disciplines are now almost of historical The scientific effectiveness of a research team therefore stands or falls with the ability of its individual members to pursue their specific interests and to collate, consultate, collaborate, communicate and compromise. Much can come out of such an effort if it stands, there is little we can do about it if it falls; but does the taxpayer have to subsidise it? As for my own responsibilities in this research effort it seems important to attempt a cohesive account of the major toxicological applications of toxic fluorine compounds and their consequences in a field that, as yet, lacks structure and form as it also lacks This situation, so it seems to me, has persisted not so much from choices made as from choices neglected 9 not from malign intention but from failure to take into account the full scope of available alternatives. After several vaccilations about the purpose and organisation of this treatise I have rejected the presumption that an account of the fundamental metabolic events brought about by sodium fluoroacetate in current animal control programmes would be of little interest to those investigators primarily concerned with population s or pre- and , or to those who have a share in the process of in Protection Forestry policy. I have the treatise as my means of communication since its form absolves me of several strictures which are required in review or monograph. It can dispense with exhaustive literature citations since a good deal of its tone and colour is often derived from casual observa- tions or personal information. Also a treatise can inc polemical statements, not intended to confuse, but to portray a state of confusion in which contending views compete for as if they concerned a finality rather than a trend. Taken together in the context of biologi- cal control measures these views suggest a ture of toxicological marked less success than is normally assumed. This picture may be somewhat distorted both by hindsight, with its focus on past error, and by inclination 9 for there are few accounts of toxicological management 9 and fewer still that meet standards of scholarship. My of for this treatise is then the recognition of the need to acquaint puritans, pedestrians and pundits with an outline of the metabolic events which they bring about in their animal control programmes. Our viewpoint will however soon shift closer to the down to more pragmatic considerations of the scope of whilst the concerns population dynamics and the quality of life within an animal The emphasis becomes more practical, less theoretical. Thus, this treatise to convey the concept of plurality in Protection Forestry. Of course, this term is no more than another, but we are here merely stating facts, not accounting for them. Nonetheless, the tone of this treatise is one of conciliation, rather than arbitration, between theoretical and practical , between basic research and field applications. In this manner it may be hoped to abolish the blank wall, or rather the revolving door, of through which both pass without catching up with one other. tion Forestry Branch Forest & Range Experiment Station Rangiora November 1970 INTRODUCTION In One, some basic chemical and cal pre s are con- sidered to convey the re of the carbon-fluoride bond of fluoroacetate to the bond in the three halogenated acetates. The toxin-host interactions are then evaluated with to the pharmacodynamic phenomena of fluoroacetate in several animal The biochemical reactions from which these arise will be examined in some detail because of their role in the of basic and biochemical in the animale Other of tate are also examined in view of their lar ficance to field programmes and medical Chapter Two discusses the selective toxici of derivatives of fluoroacetate and evaluates the between chemical structure and toxicity. The closes with the enumeration of some toxic fluorine compounds that have al parti in noxious animal control programmes. In Three, relationships are evaluated with the aid of some facets of and the effects of translo- cated toxins. The considerations of on inhibitors ( offer scope for c are, , of sufficient merit to fy attention. At the least, are a valuable adjunct to control measures in situations where eradication or change of habitat are ticable. Five is confined to a brief de of This also conveys an undi sed for facilities to initiate and continue the research proposals described in this treatise. CHAPTER ONE SODiill'1 MONOFLUOROACETATE - COMPOUND The introduction in 1945 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife of sodium fluoroacetate (also as 1080, or "ten- (1)) initiated an extensive of its al biochemical and cal properties fore this however fluoroacetate was recognised as an disease in several South African states where some ts, si fluoro- acetate in their leaves and fruits, were to stock and natives Sodium fluoroacetate is to man most warm- blooded animals (2, from the inherent hazard of baits and water, the carcases of deceased animals very to predators, particularly These facts warrant the need f utmost caution and fore in the use of this Nevertheless, de its extreme hazard, the features mark sodium fluoroacetate as being an in ontrol: high toxici , excelle ace e, relatively quick action, absence o jectionable taste and chemical stabili non-volatili , no dermal toxicity or on under normal safe conditions, tolerance after stion of sub-lethal amounts. Its one defect (under and on di its extreme solubili in wate • Hence, its from baits is a continuous set-back almost every bai or Fluoroacetic acid, , was first in 1896 ts ( Some of it cal es were rec ded, but no mention was made f 8 .. its In 1 , fluroacetic acid was as a ( Some years after Swarts' Polish workers in p echnic were, the 1935-1939, involved in researches into the preparation and s of fluoro- acetates (6). Their of the toxic effects of fluoroacetate from their work on iodoacetates and their ( es .. When a bomb me iodoacetate s, a e cloud results (due to liberation of free iodine) which s easy to In a search for related c without this un- desirable fluoroacetate was and assessed for ac ....... 1 be d to the eye of a rabbit. No lacrimation was observed, but the rabbit died This led to more matic studies of fluoroacetates. A method of involves the reaction of with fluoride at \250, 0 C ) under pressuree The resultant me tate can readily be to sodium fluoroacetate aqueous sodium other different methods of s have been , but the reaction in fluoroacetates is of course the introduction of the fluorine. Once this has been achieved, the stability of the carbon-fluoride link allows a wide varie of common c reactions without loss of fluorine. fluoroacetates. In 1 , the commercial manufacture of sodium fluoro- acetate was initiated by the Monsanto Chemical , Ste Louis, U.S.A. (7), but now many other manufacturers the in similar form and similar processes. 11 108011 is a and somewhat both flour and sugar. It has no smell or taste, is soluble in water, but relati insoluble in c solvents .. Most manufacturers supply the material (containing a special metal containers with double fric closurers. The c serves as a means of even distribution in the prepara- tion of bait, as a repellent to , as a bait , and as a bait marker in field The s in Table 1 present the s of the fluorine atom in fluoroacetic acid with the data for acetic acid and the acetic (8,10).