Pesticides: The Double Edged Sword

Pesticides have had myriad contributions to mankind. In fact, if it were not for pesticides, it is unlikely that farmers are able to grow enough crops to continually feed the exponentially growing population. However, pesticides do represent the proverbial double edged sword. While pesticides benefits the human race, there are also well documented drawbacks to its use, specifically regarding its adverse effects on infants especially in developing nations which include cancer, birth defects, damages to the nervous system, and functioning of the endocrine system.

In 2004, the United Nations Environmental Program, part of the World Health Organization, compiled a comprehensive report documenting the incidences of worldwide childhood pesticide poisoning and advocating for reform. According to the report,

“Pesticides are known to cause millions of acute poisoning cases a year, of which at least one million require hospitalization. The number of children involved in such incidents is unknown but, based on the experience of many countries, likely to be large. Between one and three agricultural workers per 100 worldwide suffer from acute pesticide poisoning, and adolescents are often the victims. It has been reported that an estimated 1 million to 5 million cases of pesticide poisoning occur every year, resulting in 20,000 fatalities among agricultural workers…taking place mostly in developing countries.”

The risk of diseases come when people are exposed to high levels of pesticides through food, soil, water or air, or directly coming into contact with deleterious pesticides. Pesticides function by shutting down the nervous or reproductive systems in insects, which are similar between different species including humans.

Children, however, present an even greater vulnerability to the adverse effects of pesticides. Children in developing nations are often exposed to pesticides while still in the womb when pesticides are transferred to the fetus via the placenta. In the case of infants, breastfeeding also exposes the child. Also, children are more susceptible than adults because children under the age of one who are fed formula consume more than twice the amount of water as adults. This means that if water is contaminated with pesticides, a baby will receive twice the dosage as an adult. The same holds true for the consumption of food in which case babies often consume much more on a per body weight basis than adults. The WHO also reports that children are found to breathe more frequently than adults and play closer to the ground where pesticide levels may be higher. Children also engage in activities that leave them at a higher risk such as playing in the soil or normal hand-to-mouth activity. Finally, simply by the virtue that children are continuously developing and scientists are not sure if the metabolic processes in children can readily break down some pesticides as adults can. Their lack of maturity physically leaves them at a higher risk for chronic neurological and other diseases later on in life if exposed to pesticides at an early age.
The WHO Reports concludes with recommendations to both the national and local governments of developing nations to disseminate education regarding pesticide use while also to reform and create stricter pesticide control legislation.

Pesticides must certainly be used cautiously, and it definitely causes problems when improperly handled or stored. But ultimately, it rests on the responsibility of each individual to ensure that people, especially children are not harmed by the use of pesticides.