In beer and in honey, on fruit and on vegetables, in grass on playgrounds and even in urine and in the air – traces of pesticides from agriculture can be detected everywhere. That pesticides negatively impact human health, biodiversity, water, and soil is not a new insight by any means. Rachel Carson published her globally acclaimed book “Silent Spring” as early as 1962. In it the biologist described the harmful effects of pesticide use.
Yet, sixty years after Carson’s book was released, greater amounts of pesticides are being used worldwide than ever before.
The new and first Pesticide Atlas reveals new facts and data on global pesticide use and trade, its impact on people, their health and biodiversity, and alternative solutions.