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Implications for Women’s and Children’s Health: Paraquat and Atrazine in Africa— An Academic Policy Perspective

Abstract

Paraquat and atrazine are among the most widely used herbicides in African agriculture, valued for their effectiveness in weed control and their contribution to crop productivity. However, both compounds are associated with profound toxicological risks. Women and children, due to biological susceptibility, gendered labor roles, and nutritional and social vulnerabilities, face disproportionately high health burdens from chronic and acute exposures. This paper reviews current evidence, highlights the specific risks for women and children in African agricultural and domestic contexts, and outlines urgent policy and regulatory pathways to mitigate harms while ensuring food security.

1. Introduction

Chemical-intensive agriculture remains central to African food systems, with smallholders and large estates heavily reliant on synthetic herbicides. Paraquat, a non-selective contact herbicide, and atrazine, a triazine herbicide, are widely used on staple crops such as maize, sugarcane, and sorghum. Both are subject to severe restrictions or bans in the European Union and other high-income settings because of health and environmental concerns, yet they remain in circulation in many African markets due to cost-effectiveness and weak regulatory enforcement.

Women and children are central to African agricultural labor and food systems. Women provide an estimated 40–60% of agricultural labor, while children are often involved in weeding, harvesting, and post-harvest handling. These demographic groups also bear primary responsibility for food preparation and household water use, creating multiple exposure pathways to herbicide residues and contaminated environments.

2. Pathways of Exposure for Women and Children

2.1 Occupational exposure

  • Women farmers and laborers: Women frequently handle herbicide mixing and spraying without protective equipment. Paraquat can cause immediate dermal injury and respiratory toxicity upon inhalation, while atrazine exposure through mixing and application increases long-term risks of endocrine disruption and reproductive toxicity.

  • Children in the fields: Child labor remains prevalent in some regions, where children accompany parents to farms. Paraquat ingestion or dermal exposure poses acute poisoning risks; atrazine exposure during developmental stages can alter hormonal pathways.

2.2 Household exposure

  • Food residues: Atrazine residues have been detected in maize and sorghum, staples consumed daily by women and children. Chronic ingestion is linked with endocrine disruption, menstrual irregularities, and delayed puberty.

  • Water contamination: Atrazine is moderately persistent and highly mobile in soils, frequently leaching into groundwater. Women and children relying on shallow wells face higher risks of long-term exposure.

  • Indoor contamination: Clothing contaminated with paraquat or atrazine is often washed by women at home, resulting in secondary dermal exposure. Children may also come into contact with contaminated surfaces.

2.3 Biological vulnerability

  • Women of reproductive age: Atrazine exposure has been associated with altered menstrual cycles, impaired fertility, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Paraquat is linked to oxidative stress, which may increase risks of miscarriage or preterm birth.

  • Children: Due to smaller body mass, immature detoxification systems, and rapid development, children absorb higher doses relative to body weight and are more vulnerable to neurodevelopmental and endocrine-disrupting effects.

  • Intergenerational effects: Evidence suggests that prenatal and early-life exposures to endocrine-disrupting herbicides like atrazine may predispose offspring to later-life metabolic disorders, neurological deficits, and reproductive impairment.

3. Documented Health Impacts

Paraquat

  • Acute poisoning is often fatal, with ingestion of even small amounts causing pulmonary fibrosis and multiorgan failure.

  • In African rural hospitals, paraquat poisoning is a leading cause of pesticide-related suicides and accidental deaths. Women, particularly young married women, appear disproportionately represented in self-poisoning cases due to gendered social stressors.

  • Chronic low-level exposure in women farmworkers has been associated with impaired lung function, increased risk of Parkinson’s disease, and systemic oxidative stress.

Atrazine

  • Epidemiological studies link atrazine exposure to breast cancer risk, menstrual irregularities, and reduced fertility in women.

  • In children, atrazine exposure is correlated with increased risks of endocrine disorders, impaired pubertal development, and possible neurobehavioral effects.

  • Atrazine contamination of drinking water in agricultural zones of Africa has been documented at concentrations exceeding WHO guideline values, raising concerns for chronic exposure.

4. Socioeconomic and Gender Dimensions

  • Information and training gaps: Women farmers often have less access to pesticide safety training than men, increasing unsafe practices.

  • Protective equipment barriers: Economic constraints, heat stress, and cultural factors prevent women and child workers from using PPE consistently.

  • Healthcare access: Rural women and children face barriers to healthcare after acute exposure incidents, including cost, distance, and lack of antidotes or intensive care capacity.

  • Trade and food security pressures: Reliance on herbicides is reinforced by global commodity chain demands for higher yields. Women farmers, already marginalized, risk losing livelihoods if abrupt bans are imposed without transition support.

5. Policy Recommendations

5.1 Immediate measures

  1. Ban paraquat for agricultural use, with immediate effect, due to its extreme acute toxicity and lack of antidote.

  2. Restrict atrazine to controlled applications, with mandatory pre-harvest intervals and monitoring of residues in maize and sorghum.

  3. Strengthen poison control centers and ensure gender-sensitive clinical surveillance to capture pesticide poisonings among women and children.

5.2 Medium-term measures

  1. Promote Integrated Weed Management (IWM) through subsidies for mechanical weeding tools, crop rotation, and cover crops, reducing reliance on herbicides.

  2. Gender-responsive training: Target women farmers and agro-dealers with tailored education on herbicide risks and safer alternatives.

  3. Community water monitoring: Establish sentinel water testing in rural communities dependent on shallow wells.

5.3 Long-term measures

  1. Transition to agroecological practices by funding research into weed control alternatives suited to African cropping systems.

  2. Strengthen regional regulation via African Union and regional economic communities to harmonize restrictions, reduce cross-border trade in banned pesticides, and protect women and children’s health.

  3. Empower women’s cooperatives to access safer inputs, diversify income, and lead advocacy for healthier farming practices.

6. Conclusion

Paraquat and atrazine use in Africa reflects a collision of agricultural necessity, weak regulation, and global pesticide trade inequities. The greatest health burdens fall on women and children, who face multiple and cumulative exposures through farming, household tasks, food, and water. Acute paraquat poisoning and chronic atrazine exposure not only undermine individual health but perpetuate cycles of vulnerability across generations. Policymakers must urgently adopt gender- and child-focused strategies that balance food security needs with the imperative to safeguard human health.

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