Pesticides: that's how humans risk extinguishing themselves

 There would be much to ponder about the consequences of human impact on our own species. Starting with the poisoning caused by pesticides: 3.5 million tons of them are spread on the world's fields every year, and only a small percentage affect the real targets.

WE ARE ALL IN DANGER. 

Animals are going extinct, forests are burning, and even humans are not feeling very well. Because humanity, too, is suffering the impact of an unsustainable and criminal production model. 

Among the examples of impact we need to think about are pesticides: a word that includes a myriad of products such as herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, acaricides, phytoregulators, repellents... 3.5 million tons of them are spread on Earth each year, yet it is estimated that only about 5 percent of these substances sprayed on fields actually reach crop-damaging organisms.

And the rest? It leaks into waters and soils, affecting, for example, insects that are not the real target (such as pollinators), fish, birds, and non-pest plants. But it should be remembered that there are 385 million poisoning cases among farmers and field workers worldwide each year-a figure that considers only acute cases, not illnesses related to chronic exposure.

According to a recent report by the European Environment Agency, pesticide pollution is still a danger to human health and ecosystems. For example, a study conducted between 2014 and 2021 in five European countries found traces of at least two pesticides in the bodies of 84 percent of the people examined. In 2020, one or more pesticides were detected above the respective thresholds of concern (thus posing a risk to human health) in 22% of monitoring sites in rivers and lakes in Europe; in 2019, 83% of farmland examined in one study contained pesticide residues.

Sales of these products from the 27 EU countries stood at 350,000 tons per year, but the goal is a 50 percent reduction in total pesticide use and a 50 percent reduction in the most dangerous pesticides. That is why a Regulation making these targets binding is being discussed in the EU Parliament. 

OTHER IMPACTS. 

Among the other heavy human footprints to be reduced, the WWF campaign also points to the destruction of forests: we lose 4.7 million hectares of them every year, especially in areas such as Africa and South America, and mostly due to cattle ranching and soybean production. Yet forests, besides housing a large slice of planetary biodiversity, provide valuable "services" directly to humans, from food production to climate regulation.

And shall we talk about the plastic that ends up in the oceans every year (11 million tons, it is estimated)? We know that we ingest plastic through the food chain and can inhale airborne microplastics, although the long-term health consequences are unknown.

Finally, the problem of waste and the need for recycling should be known to everyone by now. But perhaps we don't think about the fact that among that waste are also clothes and other textiles: about 5.8 million tons of textiles are thrown away every year in the EU, about 11 kg per person. And very little of that is still recovered (it is estimated that less than 1 percent of textiles are recycled): the destination of those products are therefore incineration and landfills, which have sprung up for example in Ghana and Chile.

An awareness is needed, because Nature is no longer just beauty that is lost, fragility to be defended, but it is our home. To defend nature is to defend our future and ourselves. FreeAstroScience will do its part in informing and educating our readers.