Linda Manggaga, a woman in her mid-forties, has a large lump on her neck that she claimed had been growing for a long time now. She believes that her weariness and the growth on her neck had been the effects of pesticide exposure. “Around 1981”, she recalls, “I was on my way to sell wood when I smelt strong fumes and fell very ill. Then years later, I discovered this huge lump on my throat”.

Infants are often born sick and with abnormalities, ranging from cleft lip & palate to badly disfigured bodies. Many children are born with severe skin abnormalities. Babies dying at birth or shortly after are not rare. When Rebecca Dolka, 36, bore her child, it was lifeless, its body and eyes yellow in color. “I didn’t expect that the pesticides I inhaled would affect my pregnancy”, she said. Exposure to pesticide also proved to be an serious impediment in the children’s mental and physical development. Most of the children are behind in their studies, and are often absent in class due to sicknesses.