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Effects of pesticides essay
Impact of pesticides on agricultural production
Pesticides and their harmful effects
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An owl lies motionless on the ground. A necropsy of the dead bird reveals that it had slowly and horrifically internally bled to death after consuming a poisoned rat. Rodenticides are to blame for the owl’s death. Studies show that humans have used many forms of pesticides, one of them being rodenticides, to kill pests (“Rodenticides: Background & Hazards”). The United States, India, Argentina, and the Arctic are places where this problem is most impactful, as there is an increasing amount of pesticide usage in these areas (“Around the World”). These areas produce large amounts of pesticides, which can cause dangerous effects on the environment (“Around the World”). These pesticides should be replaced with natural predators, such as owls. According …show more content…
Before the 1940s, poisons in the form of metal were extremely popular. However, new substances that cause internal bleeding in pests have replaced those poisons within a decade because of their efficiency, and they are still used today (“Rodenticides: Background & Hazards”). As reported by an article from the Safe Rodent Control Resource Center, “primary poisoning can result from wild birds, pets, or even children eating baited rodenticides, while secondary poisoning of birds and mammals, including dogs and cats, can accompany the ingestion of poisoned rodents” (“Rodenticides: Background & Hazards”). It is stated under the section called “Threats and Conservation” by author Marianne Taylor that in several areas throughout the world, “the use of pesticides impact owls, leaving them with less prey to hunt, while some pesticides persist in the food chain and cause direct poisoning among predator species” (Taylor 79). This shows that pesticides are killing predators by reducing the number of poison-free prey available to consume. In addition, these organisms cannot identify intoxicated prey, and it is more than likely that a poisoned creature will be caught, as it is easier to target an ill rodent than one in good health (“History”). If a poisoned rodent is digested, its toxins are passed down the food chain. Rodenticides and other such chemicals are harming not only the organisms intended to control, but also the predators of those organisms. Alternatives to pesticides are needed to preserve and maintain numerous food
The rhetorical occasion of this excerpt is to inform others about the dangers of chemicals on earth’s vegetation and animal life.
My initial observation was that simple conservation actions such as reducing the use of pesticides can achieve measurable improvements in habitat quality and environmental health. Herbicides are toxic to most mammals as well as to the beneficial insects that you want to encourage in your garden. Sometimes herbicides seep into the ground water; causing contamination of which the long term effects are not known. Herbicide application can also result in drift or movement in the soil, this endangers wanted vegetation nearby. Herbicides are used far too rampantly. Excessive use of toxic herbicides is used when not necessary and because most are not aware of the many other natural alternatives. We must find more ways to cut back on the use of chemical herbicides and change to biological weed control methods.
There are many issues regarding the raising and producing of various livestock animals, and the use of pesticides on various types of crops. The movie Food.Inc does a good job explaining these issues, but in a very biased way. It makes agriculturists look like terrible people, when this is not the case.
Rachel Carson’s seminal 1962 book, Silent Spring, told the real-life story of how bird populations across the country were suffering as a result of the widespread application of the synthetic pesticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), which was being used widely to control mosquitoes and others insects. Carson reported that birds ingesting DDT tended to lay thin-shelled eggs which would in turn break prematurely in the nest, resulting in marked population declines. The problem drove bald eagles, our national symbol, not to mention peregrine falcons and other bird populations, to the brink of extinction, with populations plummeting more than 80 percent (Mildred, 2012).
Two essays read by the class, “Fables for Tomorrow” and “The Clan of One-Breasted Women”, target the idea that chemical compounds have an impact on nature. They make it a priority to get their points across that limiting pesticides and chemical compounds will help make America, and other places around the world a better place. They provide very educational messages in getting their points across about the dangerous roles the pesticides play in the world today. Humans and the government cause this through authorization of plenty of the events going on in the environment. Both of the authors, who are female activists for the environment, focus on chemical compounds causing diseases and harm to the environment.
The author describes each chapter with a surreal narration. It begins with “A Fable for Tomorrow”, which starkly declares a bleak future of every U.S village if they erred to use pesticides. “The Obligation to Endure” describes the lack of public awareness and how it would become grievous. She justly reasons that if the public might suffer from long-term misfortunes due to insecticides usage, they have a right to know the facts. Felicitous “Elixirs of Death” describes the nature of insecticides in three apt words. Chemical structures of common biocides are explained in an uncomplicated fashion. A series of three successive chapters is dedicated to Earth and its components. These chapters include the closely inter-connected ecological cycles, existing in the water, mantle and soil horizons. Pesticide dispersal in soil followed by its access into the ground water table and the waterways is an inconceivable process. The book promulgates the escape of biocides from their place of application, and their integration into natural bodies. All her chapters thereafter revolve around the various short-term and long-term effects of biocides on the biosphere. Rachel Carson had stated countless dire cases wherein complete ecosystems faced annihilation. The influx of detrimental chemicals extended their reach over animals and plants, and were causing human mortalities as well. Humans are a part of
When questioning the practice of eliminating burdening animals, Carson employs the metaphors, “chains of poisonings” and “wave of death.” These metaphors depict the eradications as shackling to the environment and bringing forth sweeping amounts of death. These negatively connoted comparisons evoke unpleasant feelings toward the extermination of invasive species. Further along in the passage, Figurative language is again utilized in the analogy, “Who has placed in one pan of the scales the leaves that might have been eaten by the beetles and in the other the pitiful heaps of many-hued feathers, the lifeless remains of the birds that fell before the unselective bludgeon of insecticidal poisons?” The analogy weighs the pros and cons of use of insecticides to show that it is heavily degenerative to the ecosystem. The reader then discovers that the figurative scale is heavily tipped towards the negative side of results. Metaphor and analogy used in the passage paint a vivid picture in the reader’s mind of the tragedy that occurs when animal populations are poisoned to avoid any possible undesirable dimension of their
Actually it is said that insects are becoming immune to these poisons. When a insecticide is first used, a small group of the insects may survive the exposure to the insecticides due to their distinct genetics. These individuals pass along the genes for resistance to the next generation. The over and over uses of the insecticide will actually increase the proportion of less-effected insects in the population. Worldwide, more than hundreds species of insects have developed some degree of immunity. There are many important issues in the world regarding insecticides deterioration of the environment and it's affects on the average person. Though, the one that is worst then you know it is that individuals have it in the food that they consume. Yet it is still found daily in foods all around the world. Insecticides are used by produce growers to control insects and some pests that can destroy crops. These toxins are back firing on its users because they are being eaten by humans in the forms of fruits and vegetables that have remaining of the insecticide on them. How safe are these toxins to humans and what is being done help the environment and the health of humans and non-targeted animals? How much does the average person consume harmful amounts of toxins during every meal? If the levels are unsafe, why is this problem continuing to be ignored by the people who are supposed to
...ortation of plants, fruits, vegetables, and animals. Indiscriminate pesticide use kills the good with the bad. Long term and wide spread pesticide use poisons underground water sources, which, in turn, poison plants, animals, and humans. And, finally, by our uninformed actions, new super races of pests continue to evolve and create even greater dangers than the original.
Get ready to learn about the deadliest and smallest poisonous animal in the world. The Strawberry Poison-Dart Frog (Oophaga pumilio) is the most poisonous animal in the world. It’s as big as a finger very colorful. These frogs are native from Central America. In this essay, you will learn what its adaptations are, what process has it used to become what it is now, how it impacts society, how it relates to everyday life and what are the short-term and long-term impacts.
“(Silent Spring) spells out in memorable detail through out the book the effects of synthetic insecticides and herbicides on water, soil, plants, wildlife, fish and human beings. But in the book’s final chapter she suggests alternative courses of action for mankind —- a way out of this march toward death.” (Holmes, Pg. 123)
"Pesticides." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 18 July 2005. Web. 20 May 2011. .
As time has progressed, there has always been an overarching need for high amounts of crop production throughout the world. With the rapid rate of population growth, the need for crops and other sources of nutrients is only increasing. In order to meet these high demands and increase yields, farmers and other agriculturalists have started implementing the use of pesticides. These chemical mixtures are being used in order to prevent, destroy, repel or mitigate any pests from destroying growing crops. However, using pesticides on crops can create massive amounts of pollution, negatively affect an individual’s health, and can spark biodiversity loss within an ecosystem. According to Michael C.R. Alavanja, “Over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used within the United States (US) each year and approximately 5.6 billion pounds are used worldwide”. With all this in mind, it is clear that pesticides should not be made available to farmers and agriculturalists, and should
Pesticides are contaminating the Earth’s water supplies. There are seventeen pesticides found in twenty-three state’s water supplies right now. Scientists at Cornell University conclude that 99% of pesticides miss the intended source and find their way into the water, air and soil. Most of the pollution isn’t strong enough to create an immediate impact on humans so the wildlife is the primary target to these contaminates. Animals such as the European Starling birds are constantly being tested and found that they are greatly affected both behaviorally and psychologically.
The pesticide is a controversial topic since farmers are used it to gain their yield. Especially, pesticide is discovered during World War II as a chemical weapon that mixture of multiple chemicals together to kill human. Therefore, Chantries redesign pesticide to kill an organism where and when we don’t want it. Because people want to go to the grocery store to buy the perfect product, pesticide makes it happens and with a little cost for farmers. Nonetheless, pesticide also is the expenditure of life expectancy, which directly threatens people and poses risk of mortality rate. Abusing the pesticide has multiple affects on our society, (Add). (Add thesis)