Crop Production >> Pesticides

Nearly 500,000 tons of pesticides, including more than 500 different types of chemicals, are used annually in the U.S. Many are known to cause serious detrimental effects to both humans and ecosystems, and some persist in the environment for extended periods of time.

Recommended resources on this topic:

Reports & Other Documents

Food Quality Protection Act of 1996

Management Improvements Needed to Further Promote Integrated Pest Management

U.S. General Accounting Office, August 2001.

Pesticides and the Immune System: The Public Health Risks

World Resources Institute, 1996.

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Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

Insecticide use: contexts and ecological consequences

G.J. Devine and M.J. Furlong. Agr Hum Val, September 2007.

A longitudinal approach to assessing urban and suburban children’s exposure to pyrethroid pesticides

C. Lu, et al. Environ Health Perspect, September, 2006.

Pesticide exposure and risk for Parkinson's disease

A. Ascherio, et al. Ann Neurol, August 2006.

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Studying health outcomes in farmworker populations exposed to pesticides

L.A. McCauley, et al. Environ Health Perspect, June 2006.

Workplace, household, and personal predictors of pesticide exposure for farmworkers

S.A. Quandt, et al. Environ Health Perspect, June 2006.

Organic diets significantly lower children’s dietary exposure to organophosphorus pesticides

C. Lu, et al. Environ Health Perspect, February 2006.

Environmental and economic costs of the application of pesticides primarily in the U.S.

D. Pimentel. Environ Dev Sustain, June 2005.

Agricultural pesticide use and childhood cancer in California

P. Reynolds, et al. Epidemiology, January 2005.

Farm-level pesticide use in Bangladesh: determinants and awareness

S. Rahman. Agr Ecosyst Environ, April 2003.

Organophosphorus pesticide exposure of urban and suburban preschool children with organic and conventional diets

C.L. Curl, et al. Environ Health Perspect, March 2003.

Greater risks, fewer rights: U.S. farmworkers and pesticides

M. Reeves and K.S. Schafer. Int J Occup Environ Health, January-March 2003.

Persistent toxic chemicals in the US food supply

K.S. Schafer and S.E. Kegley. J Epidemiol Community, November 2002.

Pesticide-related illness among migrant farm workers in the United States

R. Das, et al. Int J Occup Environ Health, October-December 2001.

Cancer Incidence in the United Farmworkers of America (UFW), 1987-1997

P. Mills and S. Kwong. Am J Ind Med, October 2001.

Relevant Organizations

Beyond Pesticides

Environmental Protection Agency

Farmworker Justice

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Additional Tools & Resources

ECOTOX database (EPA)

EXTOXNET Pesticide Information Profiles

FDA Pesticide Program: Residue Monitoring

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