In news that will surprise absolutely no one who has ever read a pesticide label, a new study has found that almost half of the world's farmers are poisoned by pesticides every single year. The study, commissioned by Pesticide Action Network and published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, combed through publicly available data from 2006 to 2023 and estimated that between 402 and 433 million cases of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning occur annually among farmers and farm workers.

With a worldwide farming population of 934 million, that's roughly 46% of farmers getting a dose of something they probably didn't order. The highest number of poisonings was in southern Asia, followed by south-east Asia and east Africa, but the gold medal for national incidence goes to Burkina Faso, where nearly 84% of farmers and farm workers reported experiencing poisoning. The study also estimated that about 11,000 deaths occur each year due to pesticide poisoning, with nearly 60% of those in India.

Jayakumar Chelaton, executive director of Pesticide Action Network India, called it a "crisis that can no longer be ignored," which seems like an understatement when you're talking about nearly half the people who feed the world. The authors are calling for "immediate action," including implementing a UN recommendation to phase out highly hazardous pesticides. Apparently, the global efforts to highlight dangers haven't been working, because pesticide use has continued to grow steadily, with 3.8 million tonnes used in 2023 - double what was used in 1990.

Dr Sheila Willis, head of international programmes at Pesticide Action Network UK, said, "Now that the scale of suffering has been revealed, farmers must be supported to access safer alternatives to protect their health and that of their families." Because, you know, farmers should be able to do their job without becoming a cautionary tale.

The study didn't even look at the estimated 84 million children working in agriculture, nor did it consider long-term health impacts. Acute poisoning here means any illness or health effect experienced shortly after exposure, so the picture is probably even grimmer. Génon Jensen, executive director of the Health and Environment Alliance, expressed concern about both acute and chronic exposures, while Hélène Nicora, director general of Parkinson's Europe, pointed to "overwhelming evidence" linking pesticide exposure to Parkinson's disease - a progressive brain disorder that France, Germany, and Italy have already recognised as an occupational disease for farmers.

Farmers get exposed during preparation and application, and also when touching treated crops or contaminated equipment - basically, it's hard to avoid. Rendert Algra, a Dutch farmer who spoke at a Friends of the Earth Europe webinar, believes his Parkinson's is linked to the pesticides he sprayed for years. "Being the eldest son, I did all the spraying of pesticides in our fields for several years in a row," he said.

Despite being the most robust study to date, the report admits that available information is inadequate and calls for standardised surveillance and reporting protocols. Because apparently, we're still flying blind when it comes to how many people are being poisoned by the stuff we put on our food.