In addition to acute pesticide poisoning that can result in death, a growing body of epidemiological research and studies of laboratory animals suggest the possible link of long-term exposure to certain pesticides and:

• Abnormal growth and development, and failure to acquire normal organ function;
  
• Endocrine/hormone disruption: certain pesticides in very small doses may mimic or block hormones or trigger inappropriate hormone activity, which can cause, for example, sterility, lowered sperm counts and breast cancer;
  
• Impaired development of the nervous system that can result in lowered intelligence and behavioural abnormalities;
  
• Cancers, including leukaemia, sarcoma, lymphoma, Wilm’s (malignant tumour of the kidney) and brain cancer in children. Studies have indicated that the risk of developing cancer might be higher if exposure to carcinogens begins in childhood; and
  
• Compromised immune system, which in children further exacerbates the risk of infectious disease and cancer, thus increasing mortality rates. This is of special concern in developing countries where people can be simultaneously exposed to both pesticides and infectious pathogens when their immune systems are already compromised by other factors, such as malnutrition.
  

Sources: United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Children’s Fund, World Health Organization, Food and Agricultural Organization, Childhood Pesticide Poisoning: Information for Advocacy and Action (draft), 2000; and Mott, Lawrie et al., Our Children at Risk: The 5 worst environmental threats to their health. Natural Resource Defense Council, New York, 1997.

| Return to text |