3. Pesticide Contamination and Human Health Risk Factor

The use of pesticide has become an integral part of modern agricultural practices. Majority of pesticides applied in agriculture are not target specific and during their application they also affect non-target organisms. Repetitive use of pesticide leads to loss of biodiversity. Continuous and non-judicious use of pesticide has leads to increase pesticide contamination in the environment. It is associated with various ecological and health problems. It leads to over three million poisoning cases annually and up to 220,000 deaths, primarily in emerging countries. Pesticides may present instantaneous danger to the user if applied inadequately or without appropriate knowledge of their toxic effects. Occupational exposure to pesticides repeatedly occurs in the case of agricultural workers in open fields and greenhouses, workers in the pesticide industry, and exterminators of house pests. Some are highly toxic and may cause serious illness and even death if spilled on the skin, inhaled, or otherwise used imprecisely. Potential future hazards to human health can be created by pesticide residues that may cause accumulation in the food chain and widespread contamination of the environment. Acute and chronic effect of pesticide contamination cause various carcinogenic, oncogenic, genotoxic and teratogenic effect on the human being. This chapter explores the different types of pesticide, their mode of action, various ways through which pesticide enters our environment (soil, air and water) lead to pesticide contamination. We also learn about the way that how pesticides enters the human body and causes various health effects and also discuss about their future perspectives.