The Chemical Revolution, the development of new pesticides and industrial chemicals was widely regarded as a positive step forward (ridding the world of POPs). At the time, they were seen as contributing positively to humans by combating pests and increasing crop-yields. (ridding the world of POPs) Today, these chemicals are known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and they pose significant threats to human health, wildlife and the environment. (ridding the world of POPs). This revolution resulted in an endless stream of synthetic chemicals and insecticides, “every human being is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals from the moment of inception until death.” (Emily Carson) Among impacts on wildlife and the environment, there …show more content…
While the lasting impacts of POPs have yet to be fully understood, scientists do know that the widespread use of POPs in the mid-twentieth century continue to impact the environment today. (Travelling Toxics) Emily Carson began her studies of pesticides and insecticides in the early 1950s and found residues of chemicals lingering in soil where they were applied dozens of years before. (Elixirs of Death) Additionally, it was as early as 1950 that scientists of the Food and Drug Administration declared that it is “extremely likely the potential hazard of DDT has been underestimated.” (Elixirs of Death) The results of both of these findings were that the negative the impacts of the accumulation of POPs first became apparent, however, there was nothing done to address the problem until much later. (Travelling Toxics) As a result, the environmental destruction only increased, until reaching a contamination peak in the 1970s. (travelling toxics) An early example of the destruction caused by POPs was found in Canada’s North in 1988, where scientists found elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in wildlife and humans. (Changing environment, changing times) Women from Broughton Island, the North West Territories and northern Quebec were found to have five times the levels …show more content…
In order to confront the impacts of POPs, countries must come together with an international strategy. The Stockholm Convention of 2001 was able to meet these needs by developing an international treaty to terminate the use of POPs. (background info) The convention pushes governments to develop and implement strategies for addressing POPs. This Convention has an incredibly impressive global reach with 179 participating parties as of 2013, thus succeeding in addressing the worldwide scope of the problem. (background info) Initially, there were twelve POPs listed in the Stockholm Convention and as of October 2008, five of those have been virtually eliminated from production and use. (background info) This means that progress is being made in terms of eliminating production of POPs and giving the earth time to heal and be rid of these chemicals. Additionally, as there are far more than twelve POPs in the world, and the treaty should continue to evolve and create further restrictions on additional POPs. A POPs Review Committee instated by the Convention is executing this. For example, in May 2009, nine new POP chemicals were added to the list. (background info) Furthermore, the review committee is considering including five other POPs to the Convention. (background info) “All of these initiatives indicate the Stockholm Convention is an evolving international
Saukko , Linnea.“How to Poison the Earth.”The Brief Bedford Reader. Bedford/St.Martin’s Boston: 9th edition ,2006.246-247.
The rhetorical occasion of this excerpt is to inform others about the dangers of chemicals on earth’s vegetation and animal life.
The pesticide DDT banned in 1987 was a detrimental to the environment leading to it to be banned in 1987. DDT remains in the soils for a long period of time. The chemicals affect the ecology of the soil and water run off causing contamination of livestock and native animals and aquatic species. Studies indicated a range of human health impacts from DDT including cancers, infertility, miscarriage and nervous system impairment. The social and economic impact of DDT use in viticulture was significant.
No one really knows the long-term effects of these substances, individually or in unpredictable combination, either on human health or on the health of the ecosystems upon which we, and all life, depend. The chemicals are not the same as the ones Carson indicted in Silent Spring, yet they are produced, sold, and used on an unsuspecting public by the same interconnected complex of profit-driven companies and government authorities. Carson’s words in her “Fable for Tomorrow” still apply, as if we lived in the future that she imagined: “No witchcraft, no enemy action” had produced our “stricken world. The people had done it themselves” (Carson, 1962,
The history of life on earth could be thought of as a record of living things interacting with their surroundings; for most of history, this has meant that life molds over time by the environment it inhabits; however, very recently, humans have become capable of altering the environment in significant ways (Carson 49). Marine Biologist, Rachel Carson, in her environmental sciences book, The Silent Spring, documents the detrimental effects on the environment by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson argues vigilantly in an attempt to persuade her extremely diverse and expansive global audience, under the impression that chemicals, such as DDT, were safe for their health, that pesticides are in fact detrimental for their health. Through
The Industrial Revolution was the major advancement of technology in the late 18th and early 19th century that began in Britain and spread to America.The national and federal government helped the United States grow into a self reliant nation with improvements in transportation, technology, manufacturing and the growth of the population.
Chemical pollution into the environment can cause both genotypic and phenotypic changes in many organisms, including humans. More specifically, environmental pollutants like BPA can act as xenoestrogens (estrogen imitators), ultimately affecting hormonal activity and production in an organism. This alteration in activity and production can be termed as endocrine disruption. The endocrine system regulates a variety of processes responsible for growth and development, including gonadal formation and function, digestion, metabolism, sex differentiation, and embryonic development (reviewed by Flint et al., 2012). Chemicals that interfere with the function or structure of the endocrine system can be defined as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2007).
Evidence provided to support these claims of human and wildlife harm is largely from laboratory studies in which large doses are fed to test animals, usually rats or mice, and field studies of wildlife species that have been exposed to the chemicals mentioned above. In laboratory studies, high doses are required to give weak hormone activity. These doses are not likely to be encountered in the environment. However the process of bioaccumulation can result in top-level predators such as humans to have contaminants at levels many million times greater than the environmental background levels (Guilette 1994). In field studies, toxicity caused by endocrine disruption has been associated with the presence of certain pollutants. Findings from such studies include: reproductive disruption in starfish due to PCBs, bird eggshell thinning due to DDT, reproductive failure in mink, small penises in alligators due to DDT and dicofol (Guillette 1994, Colburn et al 1996). In addition, a variety of reproductive problems in many other species are claimed to be associated with environmental contamination although the specific causative agents have not been determined. One recent discovery that complicates the situation is that there are many naturally occurring "phytoestrogens", or chemicals of plant origin that exhibit weak estrogenic properties.
...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.
Persistent organic pollutant exhibit a process known as the “grasshopper effect,” in which these chemicals go through cycles of volatilizations and condensations — i.e., evaporation and atmospheric cycling in warmer climates and condensation and deposition in colder climates, thus moving these chemicals to remote regions where they have never been produced or used.
“(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)
To help keep crops from being destroyed, conventional farmers use many methods such as pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Nearly 1 billion pounds of these chemicals are used every year (“pesticides”). Because of this excessive use, some scientists express concern that using artificial chemicals in the farming process could produce unhealthy crops. People who ate it over a long period of time could suffer from degraded health and stunted growth (“Organic Foods”). For example, in 1989, the EPA banned the use of Alar which was a chemical used to ripen apples (“Farming, Organics”). This chemical proved to be carcinogenic after causing tumors in mice after several laboratory tests (“Organic Food”). As a result of these findings there was a dramatic increase of the sales for organic food (“Organic Food”). Another study found that Atrazine (one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States) has the potential of being carcinogenic and reducing sperm counts in males (“Organic Food”). This was further proven when evidence was found that chemicals u...
"1 Matthiessen goes on to write that "one shudders to imagine how much more impoverished our habitat would be had Silent Spring not sounded the alarm. " 2 This is indeed a worthy claim by Mr. Matthiessen, but he correctly uncovers a bigger and more alarming truth when he says, "the damage being done by poison chemicals today is far worse than it was when she wrote the book. 3 In fact, since 1962, pesticide use in the US has doubled. As an environmentalist (or a "radical" environmentalist, as I am often labeled by members of the mainstream environmental movement), I feel it is my duty as a protector of the Earth's well-being to write this editorial as a means of bringing into the American consciousness a variety of frightening environmental issues.
Eliminate sources of dioxin and other persistent organic pollutants (POPs) including PVC, and ensure legislation to prevent toxic waste dumping.
The history of chemistry has a span of time reaching from ancient history to the