Pesticides threaten public health on a global scale.

• Position: Farmers Poisoned Every Minute

A new Environmental Justice Foundation report reveals how each year millions of developing world farmers are poisoned by pesticides, many of which are banned or strictly controlled in the West.

The report, "What's your poison?" shows how poor regulations and freely available dangerous chemicals, coupled with a widespread ignorance of the risks are contributing to a public health disaster on a global scale.

Cancers linked to pesticide exposure by the studies reviewed include: brain, breast, liver, stomach, bladder, kidney, skin, prostate, rectal, pancreatic, lung, ovarian and testicular cancers, soft-tissue sarcomas, multiple myeloma, leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Pesticide exposures are also linked to developmental disorders, birth defects, immunological and neurological disease, and sudden death.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2002 estimated that there are 500,0000 tons of obsolete pesticides worldwide and 120,000 in Africa alone.

In 2000, Brazil's Ministry of Health estimated that there are 300,000 poisonings a year and 5000 deaths from agricultural pesticides; the cost of treatment and lost work was estimated at US$540 million. In 1996, the International Labor Organization estimated that pesticides cause 14% of occupational injuries in the agricultural sector, and 10% of fatalities in many countries.

"Some pesticides are now known to disrupt the body's immune, nervous and hormone systems. Poor people in developing countries routinely face unacceptably high risks of poisoning. The range of human health problems associated with such exposure is truly frightening," said Dr Mike Shanahan of EJF. Children are in special danger as, in many countries, they are active in agriculture and participate in crop spraying with harmful chemicals. In 2002, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture estimated that over 150,000 children apply pesticides in West African cocoa production. Half of Cambodian farmers surveyed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said they allowed their children to spray crops. Consumers are also at risk; in a number of countries, sudden deaths have been reported following ingestion of food contaminated with pesticides.

Solutions to these problems exist, but they require concerted efforts from the agrochemical industry, governments, and the international donor community. "The answer lies in reduced risk, reduced use and reduced reliance on pesticides. Consumers...