CSE's Pollution Monitoring Laboratory undertakes the monitoring of pesticide residues on a priority basis. In India, pesticide monitoring is rarely conducted on a regular basis. However, even the results of such sporadic monitoring studies are not disseminated by the laboratories.

A key point from the public health perspective is that pesticides of toxicological importance, many of them  banned, severely restricted, or withdrawn from agricultural use due to health concerns in the United States and Europe, are still widely used in India. Scientists at the National Cancer Institute, USA, have concluded that exposure to pesticides are associated with cancers of the lymphatic and haematopietic system and the brain.

According to a survey on pesticide residues conducted by the Lucknow-based Industrial Toxicological Research Institute, high levels of residues of DDT (dichloro diphenyl trichloro ethane), HCH (formerly known as BHC - Benzene hexachloride) lindane, heptachlor, endosulphan and dieldrin, have been found in just about everything necessary for life. Studies have shown people in Delhi have one of the world's highest levels of DDT accumulated in their body fat.