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A farmer spraying pesticide in a potato field in West Bengal, India.<\/span>tapasbiswasphotography\/Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This story was originally published by\u00a0<\/em>The Guardian<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0<\/em>Climate Desk<\/a>\u00a0collaboration.<\/em><\/p>\n Almost half<\/span> of the world\u2019s farmers are poisoned by pesticides every single year, a\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0has found.<\/p>\n Using publicly available data from 2006-2023, the study, which was commissioned by\u00a0Pesticide Action Network<\/a>, found there to be an estimated 402 million to 433 million cases of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning of farmers and farm workers every year.<\/p>\n Based on a worldwide farming population of 934 million, this means approximately 46 percent of farmers are being poisoned every year. The greatest estimated number of poisonings was in southern Asia, followed by Southeast Asia and East\u00a0Africa<\/a>.<\/p>\n The overall highest national incidence of poisoning was in\u00a0Burkina Faso<\/a>\u00a0in West Africa, where nearly 84 percent of farmers and farm workers were reported to have experienced poisoning.<\/p>\n The study,\u00a0published<\/a>\u00a0in the journal Frontiers in Public Health<\/em> this past Wednesday, also found that an estimated 11,000 deaths occur every year due to pesticide poisoning, with nearly 60 percent of these in India.<\/p>\n The director general of Parkinson\u2019s Europe said there was also \u201coverwhelming evidence\u201d to suggest that Parkinson\u2019s was an environmentally driven disease. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Jayakumar Chelaton, the executive director of Pesticide Action Network\u00a0India<\/a>, said the research exposed a \u201ccrisis that can no longer be ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n The authors of the study are calling for \u201cimmediate action,\u201d including the implementation of a UN recommendation to phase out highly hazardous pesticides.<\/p>\n The study states that despite global efforts to highlight the dangers, pesticide use has continued to grow steadily, with 3.8 million metric tons used in 2023, a doubling since 1990.<\/p>\n Dr Sheila Willis, the head of international programmes at Pesticide Action Network UK, said: \u201cNow that the scale of suffering has been revealed, farmers must be supported to access safer alternatives to protect their health and that of their families.\u201d<\/p>\n The study did not consider the impact of pesticide exposure on the estimated 84 million children working in agriculture and did not look at the long-term health impacts, with acute pesticide poisoning defined in the study as any illness or health effect experienced a short time after exposure.<\/p>\n G\u00e9non Jensen, the executive director of the\u00a0Health<\/a>\u00a0and Environment Alliance, said: \u201cWe are extremely concerned about the devastating health impacts from pesticide poisonings\u2014both the acute impacts mentioned in this study but also chronic exposures that farm workers and communities suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Nicora, the director general of Parkinson\u2019s Europe, said there was also \u201coverwhelming evidence\u201d to suggest that Parkinson\u2019s was an environmentally driven disease, with\u00a0growing evidence<\/a>\u00a0linking pesticide exposure to the development of Parkinson\u2019s.<\/p>\n Parkinson\u2019s disease is a progressive disorder in which parts of the brain become damaged over time, affecting movement and balance. The global burden of the disease is rising, with France, Germany and Italy all recognizing it as\u00a0an occupational disease for farmers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Farmers and farm workers are mainly exposed to pesticides during preparation and application, as well as when touching treated crops and contaminated equipment or clothing.<\/p>\n\n