The use of pesticides has extensively grown in the last decades, regardless of 
the economic level of the countries. This led to great improvements in 
agriculture but also a threat for human health. Short term effects are quite 
well known through approval procedures for pesticides. On the other hand, long 
term effects are not properly assessed. A review of epidemiologic knowledge is 
presented here. Epidemiologic studies on pesticides have found associations with 
long-term effects on health mainly in three fields: cancer (especially 
hematological cancer), neurotoxic effects (polyneuropathy, neuro-behavioral 
hazards, Parkinson's disease), and reproductive disorders (infertility, birth 
defects, adverse pregnancy outcomes, perinatal mortality). These conclusions 
have been obtained despite difficulties in exposition assessment due to the 
retrospective nature of the studies. But the continuous development of pesticide 
use in agriculture, and also in domestic environment, emphasizes the need for 
epidemiologic studies on long-term effects of pesticides relying on accurate 
exposure assessment.