Pesticides and Your Health

One of the most insidious and harmful chemicals in our environment today is pesticides.  Pesticides go by a variety of names like insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and bactericides.  Anything that is designed to kill weeds, bugs, bacteria, fungus is a pesticide. This includes weed prevention, weed abatement, mosquito fogging, bug bombs, ant spray, mosquito spray, termicides, rodent control, flea and tick spray, lice treatments, bee, crop spraying and wasp spray etc.

Most people are not even aware that they are exposed to these toxic substances on a daily basis and have no concept of the very harmful consequences they have on our health. They are unaware that they are a powerful neurotoxin, carcinogen and endocrine disruptor.

Pesticides are found in almost every public place, such as the grocery store, schools, office buildings, hospitals, banks, golf courses, neighbors yard, highways, parks, on your food and often in your own house.

Pesticides were originally designed as nerve gasses for chemical warfare. They were designed to kill living things and when it was discovered that they worked so well in killing people they decided to use them in smaller doses to kill weeds, insects etc.

The chief target organ of pesticides is the brain because pesticides seek out lipids and the brain is highly lipid with a high density of acetylcholinesterase which is the target enzyme of pesticides. They inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase. This enzyme controls the metabolism of our neurotransmitter acetylcholine.

Acetylcholine is the major neurotransmitter in the brain and what Dr. Sherry Rogers calls our primary happy hormone. It is the basic chemical that makes the brain, all the nerves and the muscles work. Pesticides disrupt this hormone. They also inhibit the conversion of tryptophan into serotonin, which is our temporary happy hormone.

Organophosphate pesticides are taken directly into our nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and long nerves) and then transformed into chlorpyrifos-oxon, which is actually 3000 times more potent than the original compound.

Then what is frequently done is to mix organophosphate pesticides with organochloride pesticides and then they inhibit the other happy hormones norepinephrine and dopamine as well as serotonin.

Neurotransmitters are chemicals in the brain that are responsible for numerous functions within the mind and body, especially our mood states, the nervous systmem and cognitive functioning. When neurotransmitters are not functioning properly then a variety of conditions develop. Pesticide exposure is believed to be linked to serious conditions like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, autism, clinical depression, anxiety disorders, hyperactivity and attention deficit.

The reason Dr. Sherry Rogers calls these neurotransmitters our happy hormones, because they control how we feel. When they are not produced in adequate numbers or functioning properly then feelings of sadness, depression, and hopelessness develop.

It should be very clear at this point as to why we have an epidemic of depression in our society. All of our happy hormones have been inhibited!!

Endocrine Disruptors

Pesticides are a primary endocrine/hormone disruptor. An endocrine or hormone disruptor is a chemical that impedes normol functioning of the endocrine and hormone systems by attaching to the receptor sites.

The endocrine system includes the hypothalamus, pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenals, pineal body, pancreas and the reproductive organs. It plays a vital role in practically every function in the body and works in conjunction with the nervous system.

Xenoestrogens are a particularly damaging subclass of hormone/endocrine disruptors. In some instances they mimic hormones like estrogen, while in other instances it disrupts the way they are produced or function in the body.

When the endocrine system is disrupted it leads to a variety of debilitating health conditions like low or high blood sugar, adrenal disorders, hypothyroidism, inability to handle stress, infertility, endometriosis, addiction, depression, anxiety, weight gain and obesity, sexual disorders like low sex drive and erectile dysfunction, hormone imbalances, low sperm count, hyperactivity, increased cholesterol and many more.

Here's some other related articles you'll want to read on the dangers of pesticides:

Pesticides Linked to ADHD

What You Need to Know About Mosquito Fogging

Why You Should Avoid Mosquito Repellent

Hidden Pesticide Exposures

According to the World Health Organization between 1 million and 25 million people suffer with pesticide poisoning each year.  It is estimated that as many as 20,000 people in the US will develop cancer each year from the residue of pesticide on their food.

What is most horrific about these numbers is that these are people we are aware of, but the number is much higher when we include the enormous number of people suffering from pesticide symptoms unknowingly.  People with psychological disturbance, depression, migraines, pain for no apparent reason, breathing difficulties, impaired mobility, cholesterol disturbances, reproductive difficulties and a whole list of other symptoms are often the result of pesticide exposure.

If your body can't metabolize all the pesticides taken in at once, it stores it in various tissues, organs and fat and then leaks it out slowly weeks, months or even years later.  Pesticides are difficult to excrete and become stored in fat cells and can remain indefinitely wrecking havoc on your body for years.  So symptoms can be delayed and come on very slowly and therefore the exposed person may never connect the pesticides to the symptoms.

Pesticides also inhibit our other enzymes like ATPase, (which is needed for energy) which can result in chronic fatigue.  Cholesterol ester hydrolase enzyme, which creates impaired cholesterol metabolism and the enzymes that effect how the body and mind can handle stress.

In addition to the brain, pesticides also affect the kidneys, heart, liver, lungs and reproductive system.  They have mutagenicity abilities (meaning they can promote cancer cells) and teratogenicity abilities (meaning can cause birth defects).

Other toxic ingredients are usually added to pesticides as well, to enhance their effectiveness. For example: permethrins, a popular and widely used pesticide in mosquito fogging and abatement of lice, mites, fleas, tics, ants and termites as well as crops of cotton, wheat and corn, paralyzes the nervous system of the bug, but doesn't kill it.

So another chemical called piperonyl butoxide is added, which inhibits the bugs detoxification system from working. Together these ingredients wipe out the bugs by targeting their nervous system and detoxification pathways and this is exactly what it does to humans as well, but on a less noticeable scale for most. It's enough to kill the bugs, but only enough to result in a disrupted nervous system and impaired liver function in the human, which results in chronic health conditions.

I know from first-hand experience that this is true. My liver became severely impaired from an herbicide exposure and if I come in contact with pesticides, my brain and body respond with violent tremors that border on convulsions, diarrhea, high levels of anxiety, deep depression, impaired thyroid function, respiratory distress, numb tongue and lips, impaired ability to think or speak clearly and an inability to sleep. Millions of other people respond to pesticides in a similar manner, but this information is kept from the public.

Symptoms and Long-Term Consequences of Pesticide Exposure

The symptoms and health conditions that pesticides can create are vast and immeasurable, but may be any or all of the following and more:

• because of the disruption of neurotransmitters one of the most common symptoms is depression
• they can and often do mimic psychological disturbances
• loss of memory
• loss of problem solving ability, mental flexibility and abstraction capabilities
• anxiety attacks or panic attacks
• schizophrenia
• sensitivity to criticism
• delayed neuropathy with numbness
• adrenal fatigue
• intellect dysfunction
• paranoia
• irritability
• social withdrawal
• degeneration of the retina
• chronic fatigue
• nausea
• headaches and/or migraines
• chest pain
• dizziness
• vomiting
• tingling
• numbness
• cramps
• multiple chemical sensitivity
• paralysis
• poor coordination
• weakness
• auto immunity
• malfunctioning neurotransmitters
• breathing difficulties
• muscle weakness and pain and loss of muscle control
• impaired mobility
• uncontrollable shaking and trembling
• hypothyroidism
• heart palpitations
• tachycardia
• parkinson's
• alzheimer's
• autism
• insomnia or difficulties with sleep

Any of these symptoms can occur from one single dose of pesticide and sometimes symptoms and damage are not reversible.

Even if we avoid the use of pesticides and avoid places where they are present they can still make it into our homes and destroy our health.  I once had to move and had to throw away almost all my belongings because my neighbors who were a good 1/4 mile down the road sprayed herbicide to their fence post.

I become extremely ill with breathing difficulties, impaired mobile ability, migraines, excessive anxiety, excruciating pain in my spinal cord and all muscles and bones, heart palpitations and uncontrollable shaking from head to toe. I couldn't sleep hardly at all for an entire year.  Six years later, the damage my body endured from this exposure has never completely recovered.

This scenario shows us that the pesticides travel long distances, are very pervasive and toxic even in small doses.

• Don't use any in your home or yard.  Use non-toxic and healthy alternatives for ants, weeds etc.


• Take your shoes off before entering your house. This is extremely important, because shoes pick up pesticides everywhere they go.  When you track them into the house, their potency increases and they are more toxic than when they were originally applied.


• Avoid places where you know they spray. Golf courses are especially toxic.


• Ask your neighbors, state and city to notify when they use pesticides or herbicides and make sure your windows are closed during the application and for a couple weeks after.


• Eat organic


• Do not live in an agriculture area

It's important to understand that any chemical that is designed to kill a living creature or plant, regardless of how small it is, will be harmful to all living things. It's just common sense, so no matter what your government, tv commercials, neighbors etc., tell you, There is no safe level of pesticide.