While these chemicals kill unwanted micro organisms, their use often comes at a cost that people neglect: damage to human health systems. 

Farmers who handle these chemicals are the ones who are affected the most adversely since they are the point of first human contact. Most farmers report issues ranging acne and headaches to cancer and neurological problems, most of which are caused by prolonged exposure to pesticides. 

People who ingest the food crops produced with the use of these pesticides might not feel the symptoms immediately after ingestion but are surely at a higher risk of falling prey to diseases like cancer and other problems like birth defects in offsprings and reproductive system damage.

Other major issues associated with these pesticides include their undesired affect of making pests resistant and killing surrounding biotic eco systems at the same time (sometimes due to ingestion of pesticides by animals or pollution of water bodies due to irrigational run off).

Monocrotophos are a class of extremely harmful pesticides used in India and few other developing countries due to their cheap cost of production and easy availability. The harm caused due to the use of such organophosphate pesticides includes, depression (read: farmer suicides), neurological and reproductive issues, cancer and many other health issues. While monocrotophos designated as 'toxic and lethal' and banned in the US and Europe, legislations in India are still pending over this issue, the cost of which involves the death of few farmers and many people annually. There are numerous such cases, in India and abroad, the data of all of which cannot be citied in this article but is available for public audit at Toxipedia.

The solution to this problem may lie not in the complete blanket ban of pesticides but in the use of more environment friendly organic pesticides. The R&D in this field needs to be accelerated and governments should ensure that there are proper legislations in place to ban harmful chemicals while also ensuring easy availability of credit to farmers to purchase more safer albeit sometimes expensive pesticides. People should be conscious about their consumption patterns and should strive to go organic and lead a healthier lifestyle.