Two new studies call attention—yet again—to the link between pesticides and health problems—and how widespread those health issues are.

The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems and The Global Alliance for the Future of Food published a 120-page report that says, among other things, that the industrial food system is mostly to blame for our “staggering” healthcare costs.

And a new study in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found that women who consume fruits and vegetables with high amounts of pesticide residue are less likely to conceive—and if they do, more likely to miscarry.

The Rodale Institute pulled these numbers, representing the healthcare-related costs of our industrial food system, from the IPES-Food report:

• $760 billion yearly cost of obesity (global estimate for 2025)
• $673 billion yearly cost of diabetes (global number for 2012)
• $3.5 trillion global cost of malnutrition
• $557 billion cost of endocrine disruptor exposure (the U.S. and the EU)

Not on the list? The cost—financial, physical and emotional—of infertility treatments.

More from the IPES-Food report:

. . . many of the most severe health impacts trace back to some of the core industrial food and farming practices, e.g., chemical-intensive agriculture; intensive livestock production; and the mass production and mass marketing of ultra-processed foods.

The next time someone tells you organic food is “too expensive,” um . . .

Read ‘Expert Panel Identifies Unacceptable Toll of Food and Farming Systems on Human Health’

Read ‘Unraveling the Food-Health Nexus’ 

Read ‘Study ties pesticides in food to reduced fertility in women