Pesticides are highly toxic because in the first place, they were designed to kill pests. The problem with pesticides is that these deadly substances are not selective that they are associated to pose health risks to many people especially children. There are pesticides that contain carcinogenic elements. Some can also irritate the senses such as the eyes or skin. There are also those that are associated with possible harmful effects on the nervous system such as brought about by organophosphates while others can also have an influence on the hormones, the endocrine system and other systems of the body.
It is it a fact that the world is now full of dangerous chemicals including pesticides. The effects of pesticides on Infants & newborns depend on the kind of pesticide and their level of exposure. The homes and schools, where children and Infants & newborns spend most of their times everyday use pesticides regularly to kill rodents, cockroaches, mosquitoes, flies and other pests. The problem with this is that although these pesticides are used along with other chemicals such as cleaning agents, there has yet been no holistic study on the effect of these substances to children.

Because yards, schools, playgrounds, parks and especially homes, where Infants & newborns frequent are exposed to pesticides on dangerous levels, most likely, your baby may also be affected by it although the signs are not apparent. In most cases, pesticides’ effects on Infants & newborns are not immediate or when they do appear, it is not easily detectable that it is indeed caused by such pesticides.
There are a number of diseases associated with the use of pesticides. In a research conducted by the Environmental Working Group, it was found out that pesticides known or suspected of causing diseases and disabilities such as cancer, hormonal imbalance, brain damage and frail nervous system, have been found in common foods that Infants & newborns and children consume daily.
There are studies made by scientists that show that children especially the smaller ones are highly susceptible to the harmful effects of pesticides. According to a study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council, early exposure to pesticides among children may lead to cancer such as leukemia and brain cancer, and also to other birth-related deformities.

FAC TS;

•     Research of the National Academy of Sciences has shown that there are about 4,000 to 20,000 cases of cancer brought about by residues of pesticides left in food and water.

•     Around 500,000 people are severely harmed in China alone because of pesticide poisoning and around 50 of them die as a result.

•     In 1984, the Bhopal disaster in India, when a pesticide plant released into the air 40 tons of the pesticide methyl isocyanate (MIC), 3,000 people immediately died and the total fatality reached up to 15,000.

•     In relation to developing animals, pesticides even at considered safe levels can lead to lower birth rates and fewer nerve cells.

•     A recent study conducted in Harvard has also showed that people exposed to pesticides even at the safe levels acquire a 70% increase in the risk of developing Parkinson’ disease later in life. This is n fact, bolstered by a 2008 study conduced in Duke University, which concluded that indeed, exposure to pesticides can increase the risk of Parkinson’s.

•     Pyrethrins, which are found in most commercially-sold insecticides, can have fatal results if breathed in.

•     Pesticides are also associated to birth defects such as inborn disabilities. This is because fetuses in rural areas (where pesticides are more commonly used) are exposed twice as much than those in the urban areas. Although there has been no research conducted yet, most scientists think that growth and behavioral disorders can be traced to exposure of the fetus to pesticides.

•     Israeli researchers have found that intake of pesticides could lead to the following health conditions: weakness of the body, anxiety, depression, stress, headache, poor memory, indigestion, nausea, diarrhea, convulsions and dermatitis.