Pesticide use is widespread in the world and responsible for some of the more persistent dioxins and furans in the environment. More recent concerns about the effects of pesticides on human health have been raised. In a new report published in the journal Public Health, it was claimed that the large increase in Alzheimer’s and other dementia in men and women since 1979 may well be attributed to the effects of chemical pollution including pesticides, exhaust fumes and industrial chemicals.
Agricultural pesticides have been linked to infertility, suicidal depression and the most horrific birth defects imaginable. Every year, America alone produces enough pesticide to girdle the globe in one-pound flour bags. A deadly circle, for among them – as among pesticides from Europe – are substances that can damage the eyes, skin, immune and glandular systems, cause heart disease, asthma and cancer, and – most insidious of all – harm human sperm and eggs, impair the minds and bodies of unborn babies, and cause miscarriages, stillbirths and infant deaths. Governments routinely approve of thousands of pesticides without ever undergoing any notable safety testing, and pesticide regulations also ignore the potential for genetic vulnerability.
Hormones are the body’s chemical messengers and are not only involved in fertility but in the growth and functioning of the brain and body. One of the pesticide industry’s bright ideas was to create chemicals that disrupt these endocrine messengers. Unfortunately, widely differing species use almost identical chemical messengers. So what disrupts a mosquito also damages larger creatures, including humans.
