Neonic Pesticides Threaten Human Health
Roughly half of all Americans are exposed to neurotoxic neonic pesticides on any given day, and children are especially at risk.
Credit: Yasser Chalid/Getty Images
Neonicotinoids (neonics) are neurotoxic pesticides and the most widely used insecticides in the United States today. While neonics are best known for driving mass losses of bees, birds, and other wildlife, there is mounting evidence that neonic pollution may have potentially devastating effects on human health, especially for children. Roughly half of Americans are exposed to neonics on any given day—mostly from contaminated water and food—increasing our risks of nerve damage, developmental disabilities in children, and impaired reproductive health, among other harms.
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