← on nowLGR-032 · v0.1.0 · model · count (tonnage); estimate (poisonings) pesticides: how much, per second and per year
pesticides · herbicides, insecticides, fungicides
applied, in kilograms
3.7 billion
a year
117
a second
10 million
a day
people poisoned, survived
385 million
a year
12.2
a second
1.1 million
a day
method FAO pesticide use statistics (active ingredient). poisonings from Boedeker et al. 2020.
- about 120 kilograms every second.source: FAO pesticide use statistics
- 385 million people a year are poisoned by pesticides and live. about 11,000 don’t.source: Boedeker et al. 2020, BMC Public Health
- paraquat is associated with parkinson’s disease. it is banned in the EU and manufactured there for export.source: Tanner et al. 2011; Unearthed 2020
- glyphosate is the most used pesticide on earth. the WHO’s cancer agency calls it probably carcinogenic. most regulators disagree.source: IARC 2015; EFSA; EPA
- a kilogram is not a kilogram. tonnage says nothing about toxicity.source: methodology note
live. this is the channel itself. embed it anywhere:
<iframe src="https://thetoll.earth/?channel=pesticides" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #D9DDDB" title="the toll · pesticides"></iframe>
or the whole broadcast, every channel, the same for everyone:
<iframe src="https://thetoll.earth/?embed=1" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #D9DDDB" title="the toll · on now, everywhere"></iframe>
how this number is built
- method
- FAO pesticide use statistics (active ingredient). poisonings from Boedeker et al. 2020.
- range
- 3.5–4.2 million tonnes/yr; poisonings 385 million/yr with wide CI
- confidence
- count (tonnage); estimate (poisonings)
- weakness
- tonnage is not toxicity, and the site says so on screen. poisoning figure is a systematic review estimate.
- dispute
- dispute LGR-032 · corrections are credited
- data
- channels.json (sign-in) · full entry · CC BY 4.0