TITLE:
Pesticides: An Overview of the Current Health Problems of Their Use
AUTHORS:
Raffaella Leoci, Marcello Ruberti
KEYWORDS:
Pesticides, Environment, Animals, Humans, Health
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.9 No.8,
August
5,
2021
ABSTRACT: The
necessity to produce increasing quantities of food to meet the demand of ever-increasing populations has led to the massive use
of pesticides in agriculture. Their massive consumption derives from the
need to subtract food from competition of fungi, bacteria, and insects and
agricultural land from the invasion of competing weeds. Modern agriculture floats
on an ocean of synthetic chemical compounds used to crop protection and food
preservation during storage. Presently, worldwide about 2000 active ingredients
have been listed, categorized into about 60 classes of chemicals. In the world,
the overall pesticides, used in agriculture,
are about 4.1 million tonnes/years. The exposure of animals and humans to pesticides could be related
to neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, liver and kidney damage, cancer,
reproductive effects (sperm abnormalities, decreased fertility, fetal
growth retardation, birth defects, or spontaneous abortion), and growth modifications.
However, the knowledge about their potential damage to the organs of
reproduction, breastfeeding, and infants is still largely insufficient. It is
necessary to improve new methods to identify and regulate the long-term safety
of pesticides use, to protect the environment and health, and to eliminate the
adverse effect of pesticides on the environment and non-target organisms. The
assessment of possible risks of old and new pesticides must be increased to
include the possible effects on reproduction on animals and pregnancy loss even
after a long time. In the meantime, it is
necessary to minimize the use of synthetic chemical compounds by
increasing the use of biological systems.