Pesticides and Human Health

When eating vegetables, people do not expect to see a dead bug within the green leaves. After that experience, their appetite would most likely be lost. Later, they might make a mental note of the company and boycott the product next time they go grocery shopping. Although most consumers seek organic fruits and vegetables, no one wants a bug on their plates. Furthermore, eating vegetables and fruits with pesticides can endanger consumers’ health. Additionally, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), every year, 10,000 to 20,000 out of the estimated two million agricultural workers are poisoned by pesticides in America (“NIOSH Pesticide Poisoning”). That is why people should eat organic foods because pesticides negatively impact human health.

The risk of health problems can be increased significantly due to the consumption of vegetables and fruit with pesticides. These health problems include neurological diseases and disorders, problems within the respiratory system, intelligence, kidney, cancer, skin, and tumor developments, etc. (qtd. in Sanford et al.). It was discovered that exposure to pesticides increases the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, a neurological disease. Oxford Dictionaries defines Parkinson’s disease as “a disease of the nervous system that gets worse over a period of time and causes the muscles to become weak and the arms and legs to shake” (“Parkinson’s Disease”). In 2010, Marianne van der Mark, a researcher at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University, et al. conducted a study on the relationship between Parkinson's disease and pesticides. Mark et al. used meta-analysis in the study, which is “a statistical process that combines the data of multiple studies to find common results and to identify overall trends” (“Meta-Analysis”). The researchers concluded that it was 40 percent more likely for a person to get Parkinson's disease when exposed to pesticides that are used to kill weeds known as herbicides. Insecticide exposure, on the other hand, increases the probability of developing Parkinson's disease by 50 percent (qtd. in Sanford et al.). This shows that the probability of developing Parkinson's disease after pesticide exposure is quite high. Around five out of ten people are more likely to develop Parkinson's disease after exposure to pesticides. It is unfortunate that people who are exposed to pesticides have a substantially higher risk of getting Parkinson's disease.

Besides Parkinson's disease, exposure to pesticides may result in developmental issues in children. In 2007, Joanna Jurewicz, a researcher at the University of Sherbrooke, and Wojciech Hanke, a research director at the Institute of Occupational Medicine in the UK, conducted a study on the relationship between the neurological development of prenatal and childhood exposure to pesticides using epidemiological studies. Jurewicz and Hanke discovered that exposure to organophosphate pesticides (OP), an insecticide, may lead children to struggle with slow reaction times, short term memory, and be more likely to suffer from pervasive developmental issues, along with delayed intellectual development (Katz et al.). The National Institute of Neurological Disorders defines pervasive developmental issues as “a group of disorders characterized by delays in the development of socialization and communication skills” (“Pervasive Developmental Disorders”). Furthermore, a major effect of OP exposure in infants is “an increased number of abnormal reflexes” (Jurewicz and Hanke). Overall, a greater number of emotional and mental issues are found among young adults who were exposed to pesticides during fetal development and childhood (qtd. in Sanford et al.). It is appalling that children who are exposed to pesticides at a very young age are more likely to have neurological developmental issues. Pesticides need to be banned in order to prevent this dangerous situation from happening to more children.

In conclusion, pesticides can be extremely destructive to human health. The probability of developing health issues can be raised when people are exposed to pesticides or consume them through the food they eat. Although pesticides are a necessary invention to eliminate bugs and excess weeds in order to improve the quality of fruits and vegetables, they can be a threat to human health. Therefore, people should start eating organic fruits and vegetables to avoid the negative health effects experienced after being exposed to and consuming pesticides.

References

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