New research reveals alarming pesticide poisoning statistics in children and adults

PESTICIDES were responsible for the majority of poisoning deaths in children and adults over a two-year period nationally, research has found.

The data published in the South African Medical Research Journal (SAMJ) detailed how researchers collected data from postmortem folders from a sample of non-natural/injury deaths from 65 mortuaries in eight provinces and from the Western Cape provincial health department for all injury deaths electronically and routinely captured from 16 mortuaries.

The research was born from a rise in foodborne illnesses and related child deaths last year, where a total of 890 incidents were recorded, and 22 children died after eating contaminated food, reportedly purchased at informal spaza shops and street vendors. 

After scientific testing, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases found that the deaths of six children in Naledi, Soweto, could be attributed to a pesticide known as terbufos. 

To understand the extent of the problem, researchers used nationally representative surveys from 2017 and 2020/21 to analyse poisoning deaths. 

“A provincial analysis of poison ingestion for children aged 0 - 17 years during 2017 and 2020/21 indicates an increase in deaths for Gauteng Province in the 2020/21 survey. Poison ingestion deaths were also prominent in the KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga provinces across both survey time points. For adults aged ≥18 years, there was an increase in poison ingestion deaths for the Eastern Cape and Gauteng provinces across the two surveys. In addition, deaths in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces were more prominent for adults," the report read.

Overall for children, most poison ingestion deaths occurred in the 0 - 4 and 13 - 17-year age groups.

“Among children aged 0 - 17 years, the most common reported type of poisoning was via pesticide for each apparent manner of death, and accounted for 41.6% overall. For adults ≥18 years, pesticide was also the most common type of poisoning, accounting for 28.5% overall, with relatively similar proportions for unintentional deaths (27.4%) and suicide (29.6%). 

“Alcohol-related poisoning accounted for nearly 14% of unintentional poisoning deaths, and tablet overdoses were mostly suicide-related. Poison ingestion accounted for <5% of all injury deaths and was the focus of this analysis, to highlight its emergence as a public health concern predating 2024. Our survey captured detailed information on the manner and mechanism of injury death, addressing gaps in the official national cause-of-death data. We highlighted pesticide poisoning as an important public health concern affecting both children and adults,” the report states. 

According to the researchers, a promising intervention on the medical front to curb pesticide and foodborne illness deaths is that suspected agricultural or stock remedy poisoning, as a notifiable medical condition (NMC), should now be reported to the NMC Surveillance System within 24 hours. 

Meanwhile, calls for pesticide bans continue, especially for the dangers posed to farmworkers who encounter the chemicals every day. Last month Women on Farms protested calling for a ban on pesticides. They cited another study that found 67 pesticides, which are already banned in Europe were still exported to and used in South Africa.

Earlier this week the Cape Times reported that the City also recorded an increase in foodborne illnesses over the last three years, with analysis from 4 853 recent food samples showing non-compliant food safety standards of around 15%. 

The Department of Agriculture said it acknowledges that highly hazardous pesticides cause "disproportionate harm to human health and the environment including the recent poisonings and death of children".

"In line with the international commitment, South Africa is working towards phasing-out highly hazardous pesticides where the risks have not been managed and where safer and affordable alternatives are available by 2035," the department added. 

Cape Times