Pesticides: An Overview of the Current Health Problems of Their Use

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 in- vasion of competing weeds. Modern agriculture floats on an ocean of syn- thetic 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 abnor- malities, decreased fertility, fetal growth retardation, birth defects, or sponta- neous abortion), and growth modifications. However, the knowledge about their potential damage to the organs of reproduction, breastfeeding, and in- fants 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 en- vironment 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.