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A SURVEY TO ASSESS IMPACT OF PESTICIDES ON HUMAN HEALTH IN COTTON BELT AREA OF PUNJAB MANDEEP INDER KAUR , ANJALI SAINI RESEARCH SCHOLARS DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN BIOLOGY PUNJABI UNIVERSITY, PATIALA PUNJAB.WHAT ARE PESTICIDES? Pesticides are toxic chemicals deliberately added to our environment. They are poisons by design whose purpose is to kill or harm living things .They can kill or harm human beings as well.HOW PESTICIDES GET INTO THE BODY? By . Dermal / Skin contact (90%) . Inhalation WHAT PESTICIDES CAN CAUSE? .IMMEDIATE/ACUTE EFFECTS (with in short time after exposure) Nausea, Dizziness, Chest tightness, Headache, Eye itchiness, Blurred vision, Discolored nails,Skin rashes, Excessive salivation/sweating, pain while urinating, vaginal itching. , Ingestion, through eyes in cases of splashes & spills (10%). WHAT PESTICIDES CAN CAUSE? .IMMEDIATE/ACUTE EFFECTS (with in short time after exposure) Nausea, Dizziness, Chest tightness, Headache, Eye itchiness, Blurred vision, Discolored nails,Skin rashes, Excessive salivation/sweating, pain while urinating, vaginal itching.DELAYED/CHRONIC EFFECTS (Months or years after exposure) - CANCER Breast, Vaginal, Prostate &Testicular - NEUROLOGICAL EFFECTS Lowered IQ, Learning disabilities, Memory & Behavioural problems - REPRODUCTIVE EFFECTS Spontaneous abortions, Infertility, Birth defects, Reduced sperm count - EARLY PUBERTY IN DEVELOPING CHILDREN - WEAK IMMUNE SYSTEM LITERATURE REVIEWED Patients of acute organophosphorus poisoning (n=190) showed muscarinic manifestations such as vomiting 96%, nausea 82%, blurred vision 54%,CNS manifestations as giddiness 93%, headache 84% (NIOH, Ahmedabad).Birth defects in children born to Norwegian farmers including hormone effects like hypospadias & undescended testicles (Kristensen & Others,1997).Ariel spray of endosulphan on cashew plantation in village Padre, district Kasargod, Kerala caused cerebral palsy, mental & physical disorders, epilepsy and congenital abnormalities like stag horn limbs (Dr. Mohana Kumar Y.S.).Dibromochloropropane(DBCP) is known to cause human sterility in Banana workers (California,1977).During 1961-71 of Vietnam war, massive herbicides & defoliants used by US caused the chronic effects as cancers, orofacial cleft defects, conjoined twins, deformities of sense organs & spina bifida. The literature reviewed shows there are very few studies about the health effects of pesticides on farming community members in India. So,the present study,the first of its kind in India was planned during April-December 2003 with OBJECTIVE To assess possible chronic effects of pesticides on children & their families in cotton farming location in Punjab.