All articles starting with P
28,818 articles
Pesticide
Pesticide: any substance intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate pests, including herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. Regulated under FIFRA in the US and EU Regulation 1107/2009; organic-approved substances show lower hazard classifications than conventional ones.
Pesticide Data Program
Pesticide Data Program (PDP), USDA AMS national pesticide residue monitoring program begun 1991, mandated by the 1996 FQPA; tests 140 commodities, over 700 compounds; 2024 summary found over 99 percent of samples below EPA tolerances.
Pesticide degradation
Pesticide degradation is the breakdown of a pesticide's active ingredient into simpler compounds through microbial action, hydrolysis, and photolysis, with half-lives from hours to decades.
Pesticide drift
Pesticide drift, or spray and dust drift, is off-target airborne movement of pesticide droplets, particles, or vapors during or soon after application; controlled by droplet size, wind, temperature inversions, buffers, and EPA drift-reduction technology ratings.
Pesticide Drift Exposure Response Act
Pesticide Drift Exposure Response Act, California SB 391 (Florez), Chapter 913, Statutes of 2004; adds FAC 12996.5, 12997.5, 12997.7: per-person violations, medical cost liability, and drift emergency-response protocols.
Pesticide misuse
Pesticide misuse: improper or off-label pesticide use under FIFRA and WHO definitions, covering drift illness, retailer misinformation, counterfeit products, and associated cancer and neurological health risks.
Pesticide poisoning
Pesticide poisoning: illness from occupational, accidental, or intentional pesticide exposure. Key classes are organophosphates (acetylcholinesterase inhibition) and pyrethroids; an estimated 402-433 million unintentional cases occur yearly.
Pesticide regulation
Pesticide regulation is the system of laws by which governments approve and restrict pesticides and set residue limits in food, differing sharply between the US and EU.
Pesticide regulation in the United States
Pesticide regulation in the United States: EPA registration of pesticides under FIFRA, food residue tolerances under FFDCA, the 1972 FEPCA rewrite, FQPA 1996, PRIA fees, and endangered species review.
Pesticide residue
Pesticide residue: any pesticide-derived substance, including metabolites and derivatives, in food, commodities, or feed. Regulated via Codex MRLs (6,453 adopted), JMPR ADI/ARfD benchmarks, and IEDI/IESTI exposure models; monitored by EFSA and FDA.
Pesticide resistance
Pesticide resistance: heritable, selection-driven loss of pest sensitivity to insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides. First documented 1914 (San Jose scale); over 600 arthropod species affected; managed by mode-of-action rotation and IPM.
Pesticide toxicity testing and exposure assessment
Pesticide toxicity testing and exposure assessment are the scientific methods that establish how toxic a pesticide is, through dose–response studies, and how much people contact through food, work, or the environment, combined in formal risk assessment.
Pesticide toxicity to bees
Pesticide toxicity to bees covers lethal LD50 doses, sublethal effects, and synergies, especially neonicotinoids acting on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors; fungicide co-exposure can raise toxicity up to 1141-fold, and 99% of mixtures remain untested.
Pesticin, C-terminal
Pesticin C-terminal domain (PstA, residues 167-357): the lysozyme-like muramidase activity domain of the Yersinia pestis bacteriocin pesticin, a T4 lysozyme homolog with active site Glu-178, Thr-201, Asp-207, degraded peptidoglycan, not inhibited by Pim when swapped for T4 lysozyme.
Pestilence (band)
Pestilence is a Dutch death metal band formed in Enschede in 1986 by Patrick Mameli; its classic albums Consuming Impulse, Testimony of the Ancients, and Spheres made it a pioneer of technical death metal.
Pestivirus
Pestivirus: genus of Flaviviridae, positive-sense RNA viruses of livestock (BVDV, classical swine fever virus, border disease virus); not arthropod-borne, transplacental transmission, 19 ICTV species, unique Npro and Erns proteins.
PESTLE analysis
PESTLE analysis, also written PESTEL, is a strategic management framework for scanning an organization's external macro-environment across political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental dimensions, descended from Aguilar's 1967 ETPS taxonomy.
Pesto
Pesto, especially pesto alla genovese, is Liguria's raw pounded basil sauce of Genovese DOP basil, pine nuts, garlic, two cheeses, olive oil, and salt, first codified in 1865.
Pesto (penguin)
Pesto the King Penguin is a king penguin at Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium, hatched in 2024, who became a global internet celebrity for his record size.
Pests and diseases of cultivated orchids
Pests and diseases of cultivated orchids span roughly 30 viruses, fungi, water molds, bacteria, and pests; viral infections cannot be cured, so management relies on exclusion and sanitation.
Pests and diseases of yews and plum yews
Pests and diseases of yews and plum yews describes the main Taxus problems: Phytophthora root rot from poor drainage, black vine weevil, scales, and Cryptocline needle blight.
Pestsovoye gas field
Pestsovoye (Песцовое), also called the Pestsovaya area, is a gas and gas-condensate field in Western Siberia, Russia, part of the Urengoyskoye complex; discovered in 1974, it was commissioned in 2004.
Pet
Pet: an animal kept for companionship rather than work or food; dogs (domesticated from wolves 13,000–17,000 BP) and cats are the most popular, with EU Regulation 2026/1818 now governing dog and cat welfare and traceability.
Pet (film)
Pet (2016) is a psychological horror-thriller directed by Carles Torrens, written by Jeremy Slater, starring Dominic Monaghan and Ksenia Solo; SXSW premiere, Samuel Goldwyn Films release, 53% Tomatometer.
PET bottle recycling
PET bottle recycling is the recovery and reprocessing of polyethylene terephthalate bottles, the plastic used for most soft drink and water bottles, into new products.
Pet cemetery
Pet cemetery: burial ground for companion animals. First known urban example in London's Hyde Park (1881); oldest operating is Hartsdale, New York (1896). Covers history, regulation, and costs.
PET glycolysis
PET glycolysis to BHET is a chemical recycling process that breaks down waste PET with excess ethylene glycol into BHET, the monomer repolymerized into new PET.
PET hydrolase/cutinase-like
PET hydrolase/cutinase-like enzymes (PETases), e.g., IsPETase from Ideonella sakaiensis and the compost cutinase LCC, are serine hydrolases that hydrolyze PET plastic into MHET, TPA, and BHET for enzymatic recycling.
PET physics
PET physics is the physics of positron emission tomography, in which annihilation photon pairs from an injected tracer are detected in coincidence to form 3D images.
PET reconstruction
PET reconstruction is the computational step that converts coincidence events recorded by a PET scanner into a 3D image of radiotracer concentration, typically using statistical methods like MLEM and OSEM.