ABSTRACT
Introduction............................................................................................................205 Agricultural Fertilizers and Pesticides ..................................................................206 Crop Losses and Pesticides ...................................................................................206 Pesticides Reaching Target Pests and Contaminating Food Products ...................................................................................................206 Public Health Impacts of Pesticides......................................................................207 Environmental Effects of Pesticides......................................................................210 Conclusion .............................................................................................................211 References..............................................................................................................211
The rapidly burgeoning human population in India requires increased amounts of food from a shrinking agricultural land base (Ramesh and Dhaliwal, 1996). There are nearly 1 billion people in India on a land base that is about one third that of the United States (Population Reference Bureau, 2000). Malnourishment is a problem in India, but the number of malnourished is not known exactly. The World Health Organization of the United Nations (WHO) recently reported that more than half of the 6 billion people on earth are currently malnourished (WHO, 1996; WHO, 2000). This is the largest number and proportion ever reported in history. This malnourishment is making people more susceptible to other serious diseases such as malaria, schistosomiasis, AIDS, and diarrhea (Pimentel et al., 1999). Most human diseases are on an increase worldwide.
