Pesticides are defined by the EPA as "any substance... intended for preventing, destroying, or mitigating any pest". They are often used in agriculture to protect plants from being eaten and/or destroyed by, well, pests.
There are 3 main types of pesticide:
Generally, there are little to no risks to eating food treated with pesticides, due to government regulations. However, do be careful if you grow your own food, as risks grow when pesticides become unregulated.
Due to farmers and those in agricultural business in general, they are more heavily exposed to pesticides. Due to this, they risk things such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and several types of cancers- the cancer risk in specific going up by 41%. Furthermore, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, some types of pesticide may affect the nervous system. There are, however, safeguards in place to limit exposure such as precaution labels. Following precaution labels, as well as a bit of common sense will keep most safe from overexposure.
According to Earth.org, pesticides can negatively impact the environment, "particularly on biodiversity". Chemicals from pesticides can often 'run off' to nearby water sources, killing off fish and leading to the deaths of animals who depend on aquatic life for food. Additionally, insecticides in particular can poison and kill bees, bugs that are extremely important to the environment and world as a whole.
