Photo credit: Michele Tribe

A new study based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO) confirms the link between pesticide exposure and negative health effects. Researchers looked at insecticide, fungicide, herbicide and other pesticide sales based on tons of active ingredients, and compared them to quality of life variables—annual lung cancer cases, asthma cases, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease cases, respiratory infections, cardiovascular disease cases, and mortality rates for children under the age of five per 1,000 live births. Findings showed insecticides had the strongest negative impact on health, and a significant link between pesticide sales and mortality of children under five years old. The authors recommended minimizing the use of pesticides to protect human health.