Assessment of Climate Change Implications on Food Safety and Human Health

At the beginning of the twenty-one century, the relations between climate change, pollution, food safety and human health become more complex. Climate change drives to abundance of pests and weeds that will need higher levels and use of chemicals and fertilizers on crops, leading, furthermore, to higher amounts of chemicals in food. Air pollution, as a form of climate change manifestation, is a major source of particulate contaminants that can accumulate in edible parts of plant and, then, in food. Under these conditions, the objective of this paper is to assess the impact of the use of chemicals in agriculture and the air pollutants accumulated in plants on human health affected by diseases caused by contaminated food intake. Data regarding digestive diseases are analysed in correlation to pesticide use and greenhouse gas emissions, as air pollutant, using the regression model. The main findings show that digestive diseases are correlated to pesticide and insecticide uses, but there is little information on how air pollution may increase food unsafety. The relevance of the study emerges from the fact that information on the burden of food contamination diseases can adequately inform policy-makers and help them to allocate appropriate resources for food safety prevention and control.