A new European study has revealed that pesticide exposure is widespread and largely unavoidable, with traces of hundreds of chemicals detected even among people living far from agricultural areas.
Researchers from Radboud University in the Netherlands asked 641 volunteers across 10 European countries to wear silicone wristbands for a week to measure exposure to 193 different pesticides. Laboratory analysis detected 173 substances, and every participant’s wristband showed traces of contamination. On average, each person carried 20 different pesticides, including some that have long been banned in the EU.
The findings highlight how pesticides permeate the environment far beyond farmland through air, dust, and water. The study found that non-organic farmers had the highest exposure, with a median of 36 pesticides detected, followed by organic farmers and residents living near farms. Even people living in urban areas had an average of 17 pesticides on their wristbands.
“What’s most surprising is that we cannot avoid exposure to pesticides: they are in our direct environment,” said molecular epidemiologist Paul Scheepers, a co-author of the study. “The real question is how much is taken up by the body – and that’s not easy to answer.”
Some of the most concerning detections were banned substances, including breakdown products of DDT and traces of the insecticides dieldrin and propoxur, both prohibited decades ago due to health risks.
Bartosz Wielgomas, a toxicologist at the Medical University of Gdańsk, said the results likely underestimate real exposure, since silicone wristbands do not capture all pesticides equally and the study covered fewer than half of those approved in the EU.
For participants like Khoji Wesselius, a retired Dutch civil servant living near pesticide-treated fields, the results were “shocking.” Tests showed he had been exposed to 11 different pesticides, while his wife, who eats mostly organic food, had seven. “Every time I see a tractor spraying, there’s this eerie feeling that I’m being poisoned,” he said.
The study adds to growing evidence linking pesticide exposure to health risks such as cancer, hormone disruption, and neurological disorders. It also comes after the EU dropped its target to halve pesticide use by 2030, following lobbying from agricultural groups.
Wesselius said learning about his exposure had changed his habits: “It’s not a nice thing to know,” he said. “But it’s even worse to continue this practice.”
