Pesticides touch every aspect of our lives, from keeping mosquitos away, to making sure your food is free of pests. But researchers are finding that pesticides are damaging the health of the Chesapeake Bay.
“They're used in conventional agriculture to grow crops, they're used in lawn care, and they may be on our own yard or neighboring yards,” says Bonnie Raindrop, the program director for the Maryland Pesticide Education Network
The report, “Communicating Recent Pesticide Research Findings to Inform Stakeholders," was created by Maryland Pesticide Education Network with the help of state, federal and academic researchers with decades of data and it shows the harm being done to the Chesapeake Bay watershed by pesticides.
Hear from experts on how pesticides are harming the Chesapeake Bay
“We're seeing that they're harming aquatic life for sure, including oysters and fish, and even the tiny interdependent critters that make up the whole bay ecosystem,” Raindrop said.
But it isn't just the wildlife being impacted, it's the people.
“The science shows how these pesticides are damaging water quality as a whole," Raindrop said. "And we have to remember that these rivers and bay watershed water bodies are the drinking water for 13 million people in our state. So, what the quality of that water is, is critically important.”
The main issue for researchers like Raindrop is the slurry created by mixing different chemicals, pesticides and wastewater combining together.
“We're seeing complex mixtures occurring that cause endocrine disruption," Raindrop said. "They also are causing physiological abnormalities and immune system problems in all kinds of species.”
During the 2025 legislative session in Annapolis house bill 386 was proposed which would ban PFAS in pesticides by 2032 in Maryland. Currently, there are approximately 14,000 registered pesticides in Maryland, about 1,000 of those contain PFAS.
“We could have uncontrolled cockroaches in our homes and schools, widespread mice in our restaurants and kitchens, rats rampant throughout Baltimore, more outbreaks of avian flu in the poultry industry, increase incidents of lime disease from tick bites, West Nile Virus Encephalitis from mosquito bites and so on,” said Delegate Thomas S. Hutchinson, the Health and Government Operator during the HGO Committee session of Feb. 12.
But for Raindrop, the main concern is how the mixing of these chemicals could impact the health of people, and animals, living on the Chesapeake.
