Fact Sheet: Agricultural Pesticides… Misuse and Impact on Public Health in the Gaza Strip

Phoenix Center for Studies and Field Research issued a fact sheet titled Agricultural Pesticides… Misuse and Impact on Public Health in the Gaza Strip.

Agricultural pesticides are substances used in agriculture to control pests and diseases that affect crops. Agricultural pesticides aim to protect plants and crops from various pests such as harmful insects, fungi, weeds, nematodes, and viral diseases.

Agricultural pesticides are divided into several types based on the targeted pest and the desired effect. The following are some common types of agricultural pesticides: Insecticides: used to control harmful insects such as larvae, worms, bedbugs, and cockroaches. Fungicides: used to control fungi that infect plants and crops and cause fungal diseases. Herbicides: used to control harmful plants that compete with crops for resources such as water, food, and light. Nematicides: used to control nematodes, which are parasites that live in the soil and attack roots and other parts of plants. Antiviral pesticides: used to prevent viral diseases that infect plants and crops.

Many experts and specialists in environmental affairs have warned that the excessive use and misuse of agricultural pesticides has serious harmful effects on human health and the surrounding environment, which calls for caution when using them in the production process, regulating their sale, and establishing a mechanism to monitor the quality of those circulating in the market.

During February of this year, the newspaper Filastin published a press report stating that pesticides are divided into: systemic pesticides that reach plant tissues and are more dangerous to human health, and non-systemic pesticides that are transferred to humans through contact with the sprayed plant. It warned of the effects of pesticides on human health, as they affect the nervous and respiratory systems and cause disorders, as well as causing diseases related to the digestive system. It stressed the necessity of avoiding the sale of agricultural produce sprayed with pesticides whose safety period has not ended, as each pesticide has a safety period, which may extend for several months or be as short as several days. It also draws attention to the fact that the misuse of pesticides is a problem at the global level, which suffers from its dangers, which is why countries are moving toward safe agriculture through organic farming and the use of genetic strains resistant to soil-borne agricultural diseases.