Pesticides cause widespread damage to animals and plants: Study February 15, 2025

Pesticides contribute significantly to the widespread loss of species(Martin BERNETTI)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Pesticides cause widespread damage to animals and plants: Study

Pesticides are significantly harming wildlife across the planet, stunting growth, impairing reproduction, and even causing behavioral changes in animals that shouldn't be targeted, according to a large-scale study published Thursday.

Species loss has reached a level not seen since an asteroid crashed into Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Scientists warn that human activity is pushing the world towards its sixth mass extinction event.

Researchers have already shown that pesticides harm a wide variety of species. This adds to the damage to the natural world caused by habitat loss and, increasingly, climate change.

In a new study published in the journal Nature Communications, scientists from China and Europe analyzed 1,700 previous research articles to see how these chemicals harm animals and plants around the world.

The authors said that unlike previous studies with a narrower focus on specific habitats or species, such as fish or bees, the new research sought to build a comprehensive picture of the global impacts of 471 different types of pesticides used on farms, businesses, and homes.

“It is often assumed that pesticides are toxic primarily to the target pest and closely related organisms, but this is not true,” said co-author Dave Goulson of the University of Sussex.

“Worryingly, we found widespread negative impacts on plants, animals, fungi and microbes, threatening the integrity of ecosystems.”

More than 800 species on land and in water were assessed as having suffered detrimental effects, including reduced growth speed, reproductive success, and even the ability to catch prey or attract mates.

Ultimately, the authors said, this could lead to death.

Co-author Dr. Ben Woodcock, from the UK's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, said the chemicals are “a necessary evil, without which global food production and farmers' livelihoods would likely collapse.”

However, the researchers of the latest study said that farmers can reduce pesticide use by planting crops at different times or sowing wildflowers to encourage species that feed on pests.

The study comes ahead of the United Nations biodiversity talks in Rome at the end of February, which aim to secure funding to protect species from deforestation, overexploitation, climate change, and pollution.

In a landmark report in December, UN biodiversity experts warned that overconsumption and unsustainable agriculture are fueling overlapping crises in nature and the climate, having already warned that one million species are threatened with extinction.

Antonis Myridakis, from Brunel University London - who did not take part in the research - said the study reinforced concerns that pesticides are “contributing significantly to biodiversity loss”.

He said that the dataset used only covered a relatively small sample of potentially affected species.

“Therefore, there is a possibility that the true extent of pesticide damage is even greater than reported.”

klm/np/gil