Pesticide labels: Protecting liability or health? - Unpacking misuse of pesticides

Farmers, farmworkers, and other end-users in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) are often blamed for causing pesticide poisonings and environmental contamination because of misusing pesticides. The pesticide label is generally the main mechanism for communicating risk and use information to end-users. Five factors are presented that pesticide end-users must achieve concurrently in order to understand and apply the information found on a pesticide label. It is argued that end-users in LMIC are unable to fulfil these factors for social, cultural, political, and economic reasons. These factors are: access to the label, appropriate language, adequate literacy level (for reading and comprehension), and access to equipment and facilities. With label information being a poor risk communication vehicle, it is argued that the use of the term misuse of pesticides in the literature, and by regulators and industry inappropriately allocates blame of poisonings and environmental contamination to end-users. Misuse of pesticides should, therefore, be referred to as unintended uses to avoid apportioning undue blame to users who do not have access to risk, health and safety information (i.e., right-to-know) and/or are unable to interpret the messages as scientifically intended (i.e., right-to-comprehend).