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Detoxifying Agriculture and Health from Highly Hazardous Pesticides: A Call for Action Summary

Introduction
Highly hazardous pesticides pose significant risks to human health and the environment due to their severe adverse effects. While they constitute a small share of global pesticides, they cause the most harm. A global call for action emphasizes phasing out these pesticides through investment in safer alternatives and strengthening pesticide management policies to support the Sustainable Development Goals.

What Are Highly Hazardous Pesticides?
These are defined by FAO/WHO standards, often including older, off-patent chemicals with high acute or chronic hazards. They are frequently used in low- and middle-income countries, where safer alternatives may not be available or affordable, leading to unsafe exposure.

Impacts
Health impacts include increased pesticide poisoning deaths, intentional self-poisonings, and risks to children and women. Environmentally, they contribute to biodiversity loss, ecosystem disruption (e.g., harming pollinators and bees), water and soil contamination, and food safety issues such as residue-related export rejections. Economically, they undermine sustainable development by affecting productivity and requiring costly mitigation measures, with negative externalities often uncompensated.

Why Are They Still in Use?
Despite growing awareness and willingness to restrict them, their continued use stems from entrenched commercial interests, unsustainable agricultural policies favoring chemical inputs, weak regulatory capacity in many countries, limited investment in alternatives, and farmer reluctance due to perceived risks and lack of reliable advisory services.

Alternatives and Solutions
Effective alternatives include agroecology-based approaches integrated pest management, biological products, green chemistry low-risk pesticides, and integrated vector management. Agroecology optimizes ecological interactions to reduce pest reliance, while biological controls and biopesticides offer safer options. Promoting these requires enabling regulations, market incentives, and farmer education.

Current Efforts Global Governance
FAO and WHO have developed guidelines and tools for identifying and managing highly hazardous pesticides, including the International Code of Conduct. Initiatives include capacity-building programs, regional collaborations, and partnerships with civil society and private sector to reduce pesticide use risks.

What More Can Be Done?
Immediate actions involve identifying, de-authorizing, and preventing the registration of highly hazardous pesticides. Policies should focus on mainstreaming sound pesticide management into development priorities, reducing reliance on chemicals, educating stakeholders, and building robust monitoring systems. Long-term efforts include incentivizing agroecology, fostering a vibrant biopesticides market, and improving risk assessment to protect biodiversity and human health.

Conclusion
Addressing highly hazardous pesticides is urgent to achieve sustainable agriculture and health outcomes. Strengthening global governance, national policies, and local innovations can mitigate risks and promote safer alternatives for a toxin-free future.