Pesticides and the Immune System: The Public Health Risks

Although some pesticides have been restricted or banned because they pose risks of cancer, birth defects, or neurological damage, little attention has so far been given to what may be their greatest health risk: impairment of the immune system. According to this report, there is considerable evidence that widely used pesticides may suppress immune responsed to bacteria, viruses, parasites, and tumors, making people significantly more vulnerable to disease. Pesticides and the Immune System brings together for the first time an extensive body of experimental and epidemiological research from around the world documenting pesticides'effects on the immune system and the attendant health risks. The authors show that steps now underway to resolve this issue are far from adequate. If pesticides are undermining people's ability to withstand infectious and parasitic disease- still the world's main cause of death - then pesticide policy must be profoundly altered.