Exposure to Commonly Used Pesticides May Harm Health - Professor Kathleen Susman

Conventional agricultural practices have greatly increased the yield and efficiency of modern farming, allowing us to better feed a growing population. To protect crops from pests and disease, we rely heavily on chemical pesticides. However, the impacts of pesticide use are not localised to plants – there is growing awareness that pesticides can negatively affect many other organisms, including humans. Professor Kathleen Susman of Vassar College in New York, along with her colleagues, assessed whether a commonly used class of pesticides, neonicotinoids, have the potential to cause damaging effects in non-target organisms. Her findings also have implications for human health.