The Effects of Crop Disease on Human Health

Ever since people learned to cultivate and grow crops, they have had to deal with the causes and perpetrators of crop disease such as insects and fungal infections. Crop disease--and plant disease in general--can pose a serious threat to human health. However, it's more likely to be an inconvenience of a season or two, given the fact that plant and human biology differ substantially.

Food

• Crop disease rarely wipes out crops entirely; rather, it stunts them and reduces both the quality and the quantity of the plants. People who depend on these crops for food could be directly affected because they won't have enough to eat. This was the case with the Irish potato famine, which caused malnourishment and hunger across Ireland, resulting in the mass exodus of the populace.

Transmission

• While it is extremely rare for a crop disease to pass on to a human, it is not unheard of for a crop disease to pass into the body of an animal that eats it. If animals become affected by consuming diseased crops, then two sources of food--livestock and crops--are being destroyed. There is also scientific research that's currently being done to examine the potential for diseases in certain types of plants, called mycoplasma-like organisms, to pass diseases directly on to humans and animals. In the future, this transmission of disease could be one of the biggest effects on human health.

Eating a Plant

• Even in circumstances in which eating a plant that is suffering from a crop disease won't give humans the disease the plant has, it still isn't good for you. Plant diseases are caused by fungi and bacteria most often (though some are viruses spread by insects), and these can have highly negative effects on the human immune system. The introduction of new bacteria and fungi can lower the body's immune system, making you more prone to infection and other diseases.