Pesticide Poisoning kills 200,000 people each year

According to UN report- published on January 24, an average of about 200,000 people die from the toxic exposure of pesticides per year across the world, having "catastrophic impacts" on human health and the environment.

The United Nations called for tougher global regulation of substances meant to control pests or weeds for plant cultivation, while presenting the report to the UN human rights council on Wednesday.

"Equally, increased food production has not succeeded in eliminating hunger worldwide. Reliance on hazardous pesticides is a short-term solution that undermines the rights to adequate food and health for present and future generations," the report said.

The report enlists an array of serious illnesses and health issues with suspected links to pesticides, including cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, hormone disruption, birth defects, sterility, and neurological effects.

The report held "systematic denial, fuelled by the pesticide and agro-industry" responsible for "the magnitude of the damage inflicted by these chemicals".

It says that people can be exposed to dangerous levels of pesticides in a wide variety of ways, ranging from farmers who use it on their crops to babies drinking their mother's contaminated breast milk and those who are untouched by pesticide exposure can be exposed through food, water, air, or direct contact with pesticides or residues.

The UN report also highlighted adverse effects on the environment saying, Pesticides sprayed on crops frequently pollute the surrounding ecosystem and beyond, with unpredictable ecological consequences. Furthermore, reductions in pest populations upset the complex balance between predator and prey species in the food chain.

In an email statement sent to Al-Jazeera in response to questions about the UN report, the United Kingdom's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs cited an unnamed government spokesperson as saying there is not enough proof to show that pesticides are harmful.

"The government makes decisions on pesticides based on science and we are committed to ensuring pesticides are available only when the scientific evidence shows they do not pose unacceptable risks to people and the environment," it said.