Impact of Environmental Pollutants Present in Food on Public Health

Corresponding Author

Octavio Pérez Luzardo, ToxicologyUnit, Department of Clinical Sciences, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Plaza Dr. Pasteur s/n, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, Tel: +34 928 451 424; Fax: +34 928 451 461; E-mail: octavio.perez@ulpgc.es

Abstract

Pesticides are the only chemicals that are intentionally released to the environment with the purpose of killing living things. Therefore, all classes of pesticides are toxic by definition, at least for some forms of life, and have the potential of causing harm to non-target organisms. It has been demonstrated that humans are continuously exposed to a cocktail of pesticides, mainly through the daily food, and it has been estimated that a given consumer could be exposed to as much as 1 mg/day of a mixture of these toxic chemicals. Studies demonstrate that this exposure begins even before conception and is continued during the uterine period, and afterwards throughout the entire life. We can now say that pesticide exposure may be a risk factor for many chronic diseases of complex etiology as it has been demonstrated they may induce alterations in: a) the endocrine system (reproductive and developmental disorders, increased risk of hormone-dependent tumors such as breast or testis, and alterations in the thyroid function or growth hormone levels); b) cardiovascular System (altering blood pressure and/or heart function); c) metabolism (some pesticides are obesogenic and diabetogenic compounds); d) central nervous system (relating pesticide exposure in children with neurocognitive disorders, or neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, in adults, or autism in children); or e) cancer. In this short review we briefly describe the main proven adverse effects to human’s health, which are attributable to the exposure to pesticides.