AUTHOR=Nicolopoulou-Stamati Polyxeni , Maipas Sotirios , Kotampasi Chrysanthi , Stamatis Panagiotis , Hens Luc TITLE=Chemical Pesticides and Human Health: The Urgent Need for a New Concept in Agriculture JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health VOLUME=4 YEAR=2016 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2016.00148 DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2016.00148 ISSN=2296-2565 ABSTRACT=

The industrialization of the agricultural sector has increased the chemical burden on natural ecosystems. Pesticides are agrochemicals used in agricultural lands, public health programs, and urban green areas in order to protect plants and humans from various diseases. However, due to their known ability to cause a large number of negative health and environmental effects, their side effects can be an important environmental health risk factor. The urgent need for a more sustainable and ecological approach has produced many innovative ideas, among them agriculture reforms and food production implementing sustainable practice evolving to food sovereignty. It is more obvious than ever that the society needs the implementation of a new agricultural concept regarding food production, which is safer for man and the environment, and to this end, steps such as the declaration of Nyéléni have been taken.