Are pesticides harmful to humans and the environment?

Last Updated : 18 May 2026

Key takeaways:

• Pesticides are widely used in modern agriculture to protect crops from pests, diseases, and weeds, helping farmers produce enough safe and affordable food with limited agricultural land.
• Small pesticide residues can remain on food, but in the EU these levels are strictly regulated and closely monitored. In 2024, 97.6% of tested food samples were below the maximum residue limits and 98.8% were compliant with legal pesticide residue limits, even after accounting for laboratory measurement uncertainty.
• EU pesticide limits are set with large safety margins. The maximum residue levels allowed on food are typically far below the amounts that could affect human health, helping ensure that exposure remains safe.
• The amounts of pesticide residues people eat through food are extremely low and far below levels considered harmful. Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables provides far greater health benefits than any potential risks linked to pesticide residues.
• Washing, cooking, and peeling fruits and vegetables can reduce some pesticide residues, but regular washing is mainly important for removing dirt and harmful microbes. Peeling is usually unnecessary and also removes valuable fibre, vitamins, and minerals.
• While pesticide residues in food are considered safe for consumers, some pesticides can negatively affect the environment, including bees and other pollinators. Continued regulation, monitoring, and research are important to protect both human health and ecosystems.

As the population grows and agricultural land remains limited, it’s important to ensure that farms are as productive as they can be. In modern agriculture, pesticides are critical for the productivity of farming systems and for safeguarding consumers from the ill effects of pest-damaged foods. It’s normal for foods to contain small pesticide residues. These residues are closely monitored and rarely pose a risk to consumers This article will explore what pesticides are and whether they are harmful to humans and the environment.

What are pesticides?

Pesticides, frequently referred to as plant protection products, are a broad category of chemicals that are used to control, repel, or eliminate pests. Pesticides play a key role in modern agriculture, contributing to the increase in yields that have been achieved in recent decades for most major cereal, fruit and vegetable crops. The use of pesticides has also allowed growers to produce crops in otherwise unsuitable locations and to extend growing seasons while maintaining product quality.

Pesticides encompass a wide range of products including herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and more, depending on the target organism. Herbicides are specifically formulated to kill or prevent the growth of unwanted plants or weeds. Insecticides are used for controlling or eradicating insects that pose threats to crops, agricultural infrastructure, or human and animal health. Pesticides typically have two main components: an active ingredient that targets and kills pests, and inert ingredients, which make up the majority of the product.¹ These inert ingredients can include solvents, substances that help the active ingredient adhere to surfaces, and chemicals that protect the active ingredient from sunlight damage.¹

Which foods contain pesticides?

Pesticides are used for growing all kinds of food. As a result, residues can end up in anything that is grown using conventional agricultural techniques. In addition to the pesticides applied during cultivation, crops can also absorb pesticides that have lingered in the soil from past applications. Residues can also end up in animal-based foods such as milk, eggs, and meat through animal feed that contains high amounts of pesticide residue.

In the EU, a comprehensive legislative framework was established including rules for the approval of active substances, in which foods they can be used and their permissible residues levels. Pesticide residues are extremely tiny amounts of pesticides that can remain in or on a crop after harvesting or storage. These residues can make their way into food products made from these crops. Pesticide residues also include any breakdown products or metabolites from the pesticide.

Foods are tested for pesticides against maximum residue levels (MRLs) determined by regulatory organisations. MRLs refer to the highest level of pesticide residue that is legally allowed in or on food products and animal feeds, based on good agricultural practices and the minimal amount necessary to protect the crop. MRLs are set by regulatory bodies to ensure that the use of pesticides does not lead to harmful levels of chemical residues in food, thereby protecting consumer health. Regulatory bodies set these limits with a large safety margin: the allowed amounts are usually at least 100 times lower than the levels that could cause harm to account for differences between mice tested in toxicological studies and humans. This provides a wide buffer to protect human health.

These limits are determined after thorough evaluation of scientific data and are meant to be significantly lower than levels that could pose health risks.²

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) publishes a periodic report that examines pesticide residue levels in foods on the European market. Each year, roughly half of the plant-based foods on the market are tested, which means that, for any single type of plant, testing is carried out about once every two years.

In 2024, 97.6% of tested food samples were below the maximum residue limits and 98.8% were compliant with legal pesticide residue limits, even after accounting for laboratory measurement uncertainty.³ Food products that were considered non-compliant triggered enforcement actions, including stopping food batches at the EU border, imposing fines or other penalties, and in serious cases withdrawing products from the market or warning and reimbursing consumers.

Exceeding an MRL does not automatically mean that the food is unsafe. Instead, if residues exceed the MRL, it could indicate non-compliance with the approved usage instructions, but it does not necessarily imply an immediate health risk. To assess the potential health risk, the sum of pesticide residues across all consumed crops is compared to health-based guidance values such as the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI). The ADI represents the amount of a pesticide that can be ingested daily over a lifetime without appreciable health risk.³ Each specific pesticide has its own ADI. Estimated dietary exposure to pesticide residues is very low for most EU consumers, indicating a low health risk. In cases where the estimated dietary exposure for a specific pesticide/product combination exceeded safe levels, or when no safe level for a pesticide could be set, authorities took action to protect by removing the product from the market or recalling it before sale.³

Are pesticides harmful to human health?

Pesticides can affect human health in different ways. People may be exposed to pesticide residues through food, but the actual doses from consumption are extremely low, often thousands of times lower than the levels experienced by workers handling pesticides. Acute poisoning from everyday food exposure is extremely rare, and chronic health effects from the tiny amounts found in food are unlikely. Long-term health effects have been observed only in cases of chronic occupational or residential exposure, not from the tiny residues found in food.⁴

Certain pesticides can act as endocrine disruptors, mimicking or interfering with hormones in the body, which can result in reproductive and developmental disorders.⁵ All new pesticides are tested for such effects before they are approved, and substances found to have these properties have been removed from the market. Problems mainly arise from older pesticides or their breakdown products that persist in the environment for many years (sometimes decades) potentially affecting soils and waterways in highly agricultural regions. Continuous exposure to very high amounts of older toxic pesticides like chlordecone, lindane, endosulfan, and carbofuran is known to cause adverse effects such as liver damage, reproductive system disruption, and neurological impairment.⁴

Pesticides can also disrupt cellular processes and cause DNA damage, potentially leading to development of cancerous cells.⁴ Particularly, the pesticide glyphosate has been linked to an increased risk of developing tumours.⁶

In order to prevent any negative health effects, the use of pesticides and their presence in food is strictly regulated. Before approval, a pesticide must undergo hundreds of studies evaluating a wide range of potential health effects, including impacts on, for example, the liver, nervous system, reproduction, and cancer risk. Over the decades, the types of studies and data required for approval have become more comprehensive, ensuring that all possible risks are carefully assessed. EFSA is continuously reviewing the potential toxicity of authorised active substances which are generally approved for a period of 10 years. After this time period it is possible for an applicant to apply for renewal.

When assessing the possible negative effects, it is important to remember that the ‘dose makes the poison.’ In other words, the potential toxic effects of pesticides depend on how much people are exposed to. To prevent someone from ingesting too much, EFSA sets a maximum amount for each pesticide that may still be on food.

As result, it’s effectively impossible to ingest high enough quantities of pesticides to cause health issues. For example, to reach the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of a certain insecticide on strawberries (organochlorine), a person would need to eat around 34 kilograms of strawberries every day which will be far beyond any realistic diet. Eating the recommended 5-a-day (at least 400 g of fruits and vegetables per day) far outweighs any potential negative effects of pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables.

Can pesticides be washed off? Does cooking destroy pesticides?

Yes, washing can help remove some pesticide residues from fresh produce like fruits and vegetables as well as grains, if the residues are on the surface. However, it is important to note that if the pesticide has penetrated the tissues of the food, washing may not be as effective in removing it. Factors like the type of pesticide, its water solubility, and the washing method used can influence how much residue is removed.⁷ For instance, pesticides with higher water solubility are generally easier to wash off. Washing with hot water may also improve the removal of pesticide residues.⁷ Using special fruit and vegetable soaps to wash off pesticides are generally considered unnecessary.⁸

That said, this is mostly a precaution: EFSA-led monitoring of pesticide residues is carried out on unwashed, unpeeled produce (even bananas), and the levels found are already far below safety limits. Everyday washing mainly serves to remove dirt and microbes rather than to protect against pesticide exposure.

Cooking can also impact pesticide residues. Blanching, boiling, and frying can lead to the degradation or removal of some pesticides, particularly those that are sensitive to heat or hydrolysis.⁷ However, not all pesticides are affected by cooking, and some may even become more concentrated in the food due to moisture loss.⁷ Peeling or trimming the skin of fruits and vegetables can also remove residues concentrated on the outer layers.⁹ However, other valuable components such as dietary fibre, vitamins, and minerals may also be lost in this process. The tiny reduction in pesticide exposure does not outweigh the loss of these valuable nutrients, so peeling is generally unnecessary and not recommended.

Do pesticides kill bees?

Pesticides can negatively affect the health of other animals such as birds, fish, small herbivores, and insects. Recently, their impact on bees has been a topic of much discussion. Bees are important for agroecosystems because they pollinate plants, thus allowing the continued production of food. When approving pesticides, the environmental effects, including tests on pollinators like bees, are taken into account.

Pesticides, particularly insecticides, have a significant negative impact on bees. Research shows that when farmers use more insecticides, there is a decrease in the number and variety of wild bees in the surrounding areas shortly after.⁹ Bees can come into contact with these chemicals either by touching them or eating them during pollination. Some insecticides can cause stress in bees, making their bodies work harder to protect themselves.⁹ This can affect their ability to find food and take care of their young and even reduce their lifespan.⁹ Particularly, neonicotinoids, which are a group of highly effective and versatile insecticides, are associated with the decline of bees in Europe.¹⁰

Summary

In summary, pesticides are widely used in agriculture to protect crops from pests and diseases. While the perception of pesticide residues in food can cause concern, the actual levels are extremely low and carefully regulated. EFSA sets a maximum amount for each pesticide that may still be on food. As result, European consumers are effectively never exposed to pesticides in high enough quantities to cause health issues. Eating the recommended 5-a-day (at least 400 g of fruits and vegetables per day) far outweighs any potential negative effects of pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables. Continued research and regulation are necessary to minimise the risks for farmers and people living in agricultural areas, while ensuring the overall safety of our food supply and the environment.