Quick Facts

"Facts:
• Worldwide, an estimated three million cases of pesticide poisoning occur every year, resulting in an excess of 250,000 deaths.
• This mortality accounts for a substantial fraction of the almost 900,000 people worldwide who die by suicide every year.
• In attempted suicide, which is considerably more frequent than completed suicide, pesticide poisoning results in temporary or permanent disability.
• Intentional and unintentional pesticide poisoning has been acknowledged as a serious problem in many agricultural communities of low- and middle-income countries, including China, India, Sri Lanka, and Viet Nam.
• Efforts to develop a systematic and sustainable approach to the prevention and management of pesticide poisoning remain inadequate."

(source: World Health Organization, 2004)

Website Resources

World Health Organization: The Impacts of Pesticides on Health: Preventing Intentional and Unintentional Deaths from Pesticide Poisoning (fact sheet)

World Health Organization Bulletins:
Women and suicide in rural China (December 2009)
Pesticide exposure and suicidal ideation in rural communities in Zhejiang province, China (October 2009)

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Unless otherwise noted, the links below are to article abstracts. 

Gunnell, David and Eddleston, Michael. "Suicide by intentional ingestion of pesticides: a continuing tragedy in developing countries." International Journal of Epidemiology 32 (2003): 902-909. Full text.

Konradsen, F. "Acute pesticide poisoning--a global public health problem." Danish Medical Bulletin 54, 1 (2007): 58-59.

Gunnell D., Eddleston M., Phillips M.R., and Konradsen F. "The global distribution of fatal pesticide self-poisoning: systematic review." BMC Public Health. 7, 357 (2007).

van der Hoek, W. and Konradsen, F. "Risk factors for acute pesticide poisoning in Sri Lanka." Tropical Medicine and International Health. 10, 6 (2005): 589-96.

Konradsen F; van der Hoek W; Cole DC; Hutchinson G; Daisley H; Singh S; Eddleston M. "Reducing acute poisoning in developing countries--options for restricting the availability of pesticides." Toxicology. 2003, Nov 5; 192(2-3):249-61. Full text.     

Gunnell, D.; Fernando, R.; Hewagama, M; Priyangika, W. D. D.; Konradsen, F; and Eddleston, M. "The impact of pesticide regulations on suicide in Sri Lanka." International Journal of Epidemiology 2007 36(6):1235-1242. Full text. 

JM Bertolote, A Fleischmann, M Eddleston, and D Gunnell. "Deaths from Pesticide Poisoning: Are we lacking a global response?" British Journal of Psychiatry. 2006 September; 189: 201-203. Full text.

Wesseling C; Corriols M; Bravo V. "Acute pesticide poisoning and pesticide registration in Central America." Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. 2005, Sep 1; 207(2 Suppl):697-705. 

London, L. and Bailie, R. "Challenges for improving surveillance for pesticide poisoning: policy implications for developing countries." International Journal of Epidemiology. 2001, Jun; 30(3):564-70. Full text.