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Pesticides and children
What is a pesticide? This is, in fact, a drug name for a poison, which includes things such as insecticides, disinfectants, herbicides (for plants) and fungicides (for moulds, etc). So in themselves they are dangerous.
Farmers count on levels of pesticides being low enough to kill insects and pests, but not to affect humans. Although pesticides can be beneficial to society, they can also be dangerous - and have been associated with everything from cancer and infertility to Gulf War Syndrome and eye abnormalities.
Many thousands of 'pesticide' chemicals have been created over the years, mostly in order to allow a greater increase in agricultural productivity. As a result, many of these products have been very widely dispersed into our environment. Whilst most of these pesticide products have undergone extensive tests to ensure their safety, no one really knows exactly what effects they may have on plants, animals and humans after a lifetime of exposure.
Some of them have a 'half-life' of up to a year - which means that their level of toxic action has only reduced by 50 per cent after a year from their first use!
What is the risk to children?
It is known that pesticides can cause a whole range of health problems, including cancer, damage to the nervous system and lungs, the reproductive system and the system responsible for our hormonal and immunity control.
Children are far more susceptible to the toxic effects than adults (apart from the large number who accidentally ingest pesticides). Relative to their size, children:
- Get proportionately heftier doses of the numerous environmental pollutants
- Breathe more air than adults
- Drink more water than adults
- Eat more food than adults. The food that children eat also differs, for instance, in that they typically consume larger quantities of milk and orange juice per pound of body weight than do adults. So, any toxins contained in foods will raise the relative exposure.
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