In many cases effects are not immediate, showing up years later as unexplained illness. Fourteen fatalities were attributed to pesticide poisoning during the same period. Prenatal exposure to pesticides may increase the risks of stillbirth and birth defects, and other reproductive, developmental and immune system disorders. Children Are Especially Vulnerable to Pesticide Poisoning Children drink much more water and eat much more food than adults relative to their body weight. They also breathe twice as much air per unit of body weight compared to adults.
Children crawl on the ground and put their hands in their mouths.
Children's bodies and brains are developing and are more sensitive to disruption. Children's mechanisms for detoxifying and excreting drugs, pesticides and toxicants are immature and less efficient.