Source: U.S. National Agricultural Library

A new study published in Environmental Science and Technology highlights the long-term presence pesticides can have in our body. The research examined Vietnamese men living near areas where Agent Orange was stored and sprayed more than 40 years ago to examine the presence of dioxins caused by exposure to the pesticide, and compared their dioxin levels to men living in unsprayed areas of Northern Vietnam. They found that the level of dioxin toxicity was 2.5 times higher in the men who had lived near Agent Orange storage facilities. Exposure to Agent Orange has been linked to several health problems in veterans, such as lung cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and leukemia. Unfortunately, the results of this study show that some toxic pesticides can persist in the human body for over four decades.