Pesticides

Pesticides come in many forms but all are, by design, toxic to living organisms. In our efforts to rid our crops, homes, and gardens of weeds and pests, we have surrounded ourselves with mixtures of chemicals with only a minimal understanding of how they affect our health.  Annually, Americans use more than 4.5 billion pounds of pesticides, including about 1 billion pounds of "conventional" pesticides used in agriculture, industry, home and garden. Every day, we are unknowingly exposed to a variety of pesticides in our food, drinking water, homes, schools, and offices.

Each year, thousands of people in the U.S. become ill or are hospitalized as a result of acute pesticide poisoning. Yet we are now only beginning to understand that even the low levels of pesticide exposure we encounter every day can lead to serious illness and disease over time. Studies confirm that low levels of pesticide exposure can be linked to such serious conditions as cancer; damage to the nervous system, reproductive system and other organs; developmental and behavioral abnormalities; disruption of normal hormonal function; and immune dysfunction.

Learn more about Triclosan.

Exposure

Both chronic and acute exposures to pesticides are threats to human health, but in different ways.  Acute, high level exposures can have immediately recognizable and harmful consequences, while chronic, low level exposure may not show an impact for years or decades. The scientific and medical community also is beginning to investigate the possible harm caused by the accumulation and interaction of multiple pesticides in the human body.

Pesticides and Children

Most households use some form of pesticide such as insect repellant, weed killer or a flea collar for the pet.  However, there are pesticides in many other products as well. Treated wood for playgrounds and tree houses, soap, pool chemicals, shelving paper, even the waxy coating on fruits and vegetables contain some level of pesticides.  We are exposed to these low levels of pesticides every day without fully understanding the dangerous health effects they may have.

There is mounting evidence for a wide range of health effects. It is clear that developing fetuses, infants and young children are particularly sensitive to the harmful effects of pesticides.  When exposed to a toxic chemical, children are much more likely to experience an adverse health reaction at lower doses than adults.  Developing and growing bodies are much more susceptible to pesticide contamination than grown bodies.