Pesticides are the only chemicals deliberately made to be toxic and introduced directly into the environment. They are used in agriculture, in homes, and in urban areas to kill or control insects, weeds and diseases. Pesticides are used everywhere: in crops and carpets, boats and bananas, and unwanted residues can be found in humans, water, food, air and soil.
PAN UK is the only organisation in Britain dedicated to raising awareness of the problems with pesticides. PAN UK is part of a global network. We work closely with partners in developing countries, where pesticide problems are sometimes far worse. In developing countries there are as many as three million poisonings and 20,000 deaths each year from pesticide incidents. Unnecessary use puts farmers on an expensive pesticide treadmill.
Over 800 different chemicals are made globally and sold in tens of thousands of mixtures. This means that:
- Some pesticides are acutely toxic, and cause death and ill health to users, particularly – but not only – in developing countries.
- Chronic exposure to some pesticides can cause cancer or birth defects.
- Some persistent pesticides ‘travel’ from where they are used, and end up in remote arctic regions where they may stay for centuries.
- Persistent pesticides are found in the body fat of humans and wildlife, including in human breast milk, throughout the globe.
- Other pesticides affect hormone systems and may be altering the basis of life: tributyltin can make sea whelks sterile at infinitesimal levels.
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Middle Awash State Farm, Ethiopia is massively oversupplied with
pesticides that are now leaking into an environmentally sensitive flood
plain. Photo: Mark Davis. |
Tackling the problems
Our projects are designed to tackle these problems in different ways, and at different levels.
- Toxic dumps of obsolete pesticides are found throughout Africa, amounting to an estimated 50,000 tonnes. The Africa Stockpiles Project aims to clear these hazardous stocks that are polluting the local and global environment.
- Cotton uses consistently more hazardous pesticides than any other crop. Working with our African partners, we have identified the
pesticide endosulfan causing death and poisonings, and are working for a ban.
- Organic cotton is a reality for small-scale farmers in Africa, and can dramatically improve their income. We have helped
farmers convert.
- Corporate sales strategies encourage poor farmers without training to use hazardous pesticides. We promote farmer field school training to reduce pesticide dependency and increase yields and income.
- Europe is the second biggest market for pesticides after the US. Our campaigns to ban certain very hazardous pesticides and to encourage least toxic alternatives is
promoting a new approach to regulation.
- In the UK many people exposed to even small amounts of pesticides suffer chronic severe allergic reactions. We provide practical
information and advice to sufferers.
- We work in urban areas with high levels of pesticide exposure, helping local councils reduce their pesticide use, and raising
awareness in schools and communities.
