Phasing out harmful use of pesticides

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“If we are going to live so intimately with these chemicals—eating and drinking them, taking them into the very marrow of our bones—we had better know something about their nature and their power”, wrote environmentalist Rachel Carson in 1962 in her book Silent Spring, which hauntingly described the damaging effects of indiscriminate pesticide use in agriculture on animals and people in the USA. 55 years later, a new report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food and the UN Special Rapporteur on toxics, presented to the Human Rights Council on March 7, details the health and environmental effects of excessive pesticide use globally. Chronic exposure to pesticides has been linked to several diseases and conditions including cancer, developmental disorders, and sterility. Populations such as farmers and agricultural workers and those living near plantations, especially pregnant women and children, are particularly vulnerable to exposure from these chemicals. Additionally, pesticides are responsible for an estimated 200 000 acute self-poisonings worldwide each year. The report dispels the idea promulgated by the agrochemical industry that intensive use of pesticides is needed to feed the growing global population. Instead, it notes that excessive use can damage the ecological systems that support food production. It states that it is possible to produce higher yields of food in the long term without or with minimal use of toxic chemicals. The UN rapporteurs are damming about the “aggressive, unethical marketing tactics” of the pesticides industry and the money spent on influencing policy makers and disputing scientific evidence. They call for a new global treaty to regulate and phase out the use of hazardous pesticides in farming. Such an international pact would be a welcome addition to efforts towards a more sustainable future but it will take time to form, especially considering the likelihood of industry opposition to it. More immediately, much more can be done nationally to strengthen existing weak regulations on the use and safety of these chemicals to protect the health of populations and the environments that they depend on.