The global distribution of acute unintentional pesticide poisoning: estimations based on a systematic review

Boedeker, W., Watts, M., Clausing, P. et al. The global distribution of acute unintentional pesticide poisoning: estimations based on a systematic review. BMC Public Health 20, 1875 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09939-0

Human poisoning by pesticides has long been seen as a severe public health problem [1,2,3,4]. As early as 1990, a task force of the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that about one million unintentional pesticides poisonings with severe manifestations occur annually, leading to approximately 20,000 deaths [5]. Additionally, two million cases were expected to result from intentional self-harm. It was recognized that people in the developing world were particularly affected by the impact of pesticide poisoning and the number of cases was probably much higher as many cases remain unreported. Jeyaratnam further estimated 25 million cases of occupational acute pesticide poisonings per year, the bulk of which were not recorded, as most of the affected did not seek medical attention [6]. During the last two decades, international bodies have taken up the issue and adopted a number of resolutions and programs to address the detrimental effects of pesticide use [7,8,9,10,11]. Despite these efforts, global pesticide use has continued to grow steadily to 4.1 million tonnes per year in 2017, an increase of nearly 81% from 1990 [12].