What are the hazards of pesticides to human body

Pesticide is a drug used in agricultural production to remove weeds or insects to prevent diseases and pests. With the development of agriculture, there are more and more types of pesticides, and our exposure to or ingestion of pesticides is also increasing, which is a serious hazard to our bodies. In normal times, whether it is field production or daily diet, we must pay attention to it and take active prevention measures. What are the hazards of pesticides to the human body?

The harm of pesticides to human body

Pesticides enter the human body mainly through three pathways: one is accidental contact with large amounts of pesticides, such as accidental ingestion; the second is long-term exposure to a certain amount of pesticides, such as workers in pesticide factories and farmers who use them; the third is exposure to pesticide residues in the environment and food in daily life. The latter is the main reason why a large number of people are exposed to pesticide pollution. A large amount of residual pesticides in the environment can enter the human body through bioaccumulation through the food chain. The harm of pesticides to human body mainly manifests itself in three forms: acute poisoning, chronic harm and "three-cause" harm.

1. Acute poisoning

When pesticides enter the human body in large quantities through the mouth, inhalation or contact, the acute pathological reactions that manifest in a short period of time are called acute poisoning. Acute poisoning often causes the death of a large number of individuals and becomes the most obvious pesticide hazard. According to reports from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme, more than 1 million people are poisoned by pesticides every year worldwide, and 20,000 of them die. There are 67,000 pesticide poisoning accidents in the United States every year, and the situation is even more serious in developing countries. Every year in my country, there are 100,000 pesticide poisoning accidents, resulting in more than 10,000 deaths. On September 24, 1995, CCTV reported that 540 students at a school in Binyang County, Guangxi Province, were poisoned by pesticides after eating cabbage that had been sprayed with highly toxic pesticides.

2. Chronic harm

Long-term contact with or consumption of foods containing pesticides can cause the pesticides to accumulate in the body, posing a potential threat to human health. Organochlorine pesticides have been banned by the European Community for 30 years. However, a university in the Federal Republic of Germany examined 262 children in cities such as Frankfurt and Munich, and found that 17 newborns had polychlorinated biphenyls in their body fat, with levels as high as 1.6 mg/kg of fat. In 1975, a US research institute randomly selected 150 hospitals from various states and collected 1,436 breast milk samples. After testing, most of them were found to contain dieldrin, heptachlor epoxide, etc. In 1983, the medical department of Harbin City, my country, conducted a survey on 70 breastfeeding women under the age of 30 and found that their breast milk contained trace amounts of 666 and DDT. Pesticides continue to accumulate in the human body. Although they will not cause obvious acute poisoning symptoms in the human body in a short period of time, they can cause chronic harm. For example, organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides can inhibit the activity of choline esterase and destroy the normal function of the nervous system. Research by American scientists has shown that DDT can disrupt the balance of hormones in the human body and affect male fertility. In Innet, Canada, children and infants who eat fish and game contaminated with pesticides have immunodeficiency syndrome and their incidence of otitis and meningitis is 30 times that of American children. Although the chronic hazards of pesticides cannot directly endanger human life, they can reduce human immunity, thereby affecting human health and causing an increase in the incidence and mortality of other diseases.

3. Carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic

Based on animal experiments, the International Agency for Research on Cancer has confirmed that 18 widely used pesticides are clearly carcinogenic, and another 16 show potential carcinogenic risks. It is estimated that the number of cancer patients in the United States who are related to pesticides accounts for about 10% of the total number of cancer patients in the country. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military sprayed large amounts of plant defoliants in Vietnam, causing many U.S. soldiers and Vietnamese civilians who were exposed to the defoliants to develop cancer, genetic defects and other diseases. According to recent reports, 50,000 deformed children have appeared in Vietnam as a result. From 1989 to 1990, in Linya Village in southwestern Hungary, which had a population of only 456, 11 out of 15 babies born were born with congenital malformations, accounting for 73.3%. The main reason was that the pregnant women ate fish treated with dichlorvos during pregnancy. At present, my country has promulgated five batches of pesticide safety use standards, stipulating that 10 types of pesticides are prohibited from use in agriculture. Among them, dibromochloropropane can cause male infertility and has carcinogenic and mutagenic effects on animals. Tricyclotin and teraptin are teratogenic in animals. Ethylene dibromide can cause teratogenesis and mutagenesis in humans and animals. Chlorhexidine is a potential carcinogenic threat to humans and is carcinogenic to animals.

The above is an introduction to the harm of pesticides to the human body. It can be seen that the harm to the human body is particularly serious. Therefore, we must develop good living habits in our daily lives, especially the vegetables and fruits we eat, we must pay attention to washing them clean, and try to eat more environmentally friendly and pollution-free foods.