The Deadly Effects of Pesticides Pesticides are chemical compounds used to kill unwanted "pests" such as small insects. These chemicals can harm creatures in many ways including their ability to never disappear, their disruption of certain genetics and their effects on the ecosystem. Pesticides may seem like they are supporting the common good by keeping unwanted pests controlled in agriculture, but they should be tested under harsher guidelines because they are more dangerous and deadly than many realize. To begin with, pesticides prove harmful to people through their ability to grow within the produce being protected by it from insects. Pesticides are found not only …show more content…
Many people believe that they can remove excess pesticides by merely washing their produce before consuming it, yet that is simply not the case. One may wash their produce to their hearts content, but when the poisons of pesticides are already harbored within, there is no way to remove them. Going back to the example of an apple, as it continues to grow the pesticides will stay within and also, slightly alleviate the need for more. When it comes time to harvest the apples, orchards will send them off to be cleaned and then to the stores or to a processor to become apple juice. With the pesticides still inside of the apples, even apple juice will contain the chemicals and can be harmful to the consumer. The best way to ensure that the food purchased is something healthy instead of harmful, is to check to make sure that ‘Organic’ is somewhere on the label. It may cost more but the price should always outweigh the health risks. Certain studies on pesticides are based around calculations of what they may do to the human body in the future if our use of them continues, but many studies …show more content…
The air surrounding both becomes contaminated yet the organic farms can still be called organic because they are not the ones placing the poison into their fields. This means that many organic farms aren’t really organic, but they are able to label their products that way. Organic farmers are trying to fight for their right and have been able to in certain states, but many allow farmers who use pesticides, to purchase land that touches the organic land. While spraying produce with these chemicals many can travel to the other field and contaminate it, and other farmers use this to their advantage as a business tactic, labeling things organic when they are truly not. The EPA needs to change its regulations towards pesticides because currently all they are doing is showing that if you tweak a chemical compound enough to not include certain banned ingredients, then it is okay to produce and suffocate agriculture with. Then in a few years they’ll ban other things and the cycle will begin again, it’s a non-stop continuation of placing deadly things in the air we breathe just to determine that they are unfit for us. The people who have been effected by cancer and other horrific diseases need the justice of better guidelines at the least, so that lesser and lesser people will have to suffer through what they
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.
What is a pesticide?A pesticide is a chemical substance used to kill pests, especially insects. A pesticide is also refered to as a biocide. Most pesticides are applied in spray form but occasionaly you will see pesticides that are in powder or pellet form. Pesticides are used on a variety of things, anything from crops like corn, barley, and wheat, to plants like petunias, marigolds, and rhodadendrons, which are usually found in small gardens greenhouses, and even in your backyard.
Pesticides can be absorbed from the outside of the produce to the inside of the skin. If one does not eat completely organic, there is no way to stay completely away from consuming chemicals. Pesticides also contaminate drinking water. Run off water from farms using pesticides contaminate rivers and have the potential to infiltrate drinking water supplies ("Assessing Health Risks from Pesticides | Pesticides | US EPA"). A simple way to avoid this is to filter your water a few extra times before you consume it. Scientists know more about the effect pesticides have on people than the effects GMOs do. This evidence is due to worker exposer. People who apply pesticides such as vegetable and fruit pickers. The Environmental Protection Agency known as the EPA, evaluates exposure workers have to chemicals. The EPA only registers chemicals that are shown to be safe if used properly. There are different ways to be exposed to pesticide, inhalation exposure, dermal exposure, and oral exposure. Testing is typically preformed on animals by pesticide companies in independent laboratories. While testing pesticides the EPA looks for a wide range of side effects such as eye and skin irritation to birth defects and cancer. The Federal Government also regulates pesticides, “to ensure that they do not pose unreasonable risk to human health or the environment.” ("Assessing Health Risks from Pesticides | Pesticides | US
Sure farmers may have a big fuel bill at the end of spring for having to go out and spray pesticides. Spraying pesticides doesn’t waste the farmer’s time, it just wastes their money that they use to pay for the expensive pesticides. Pesticides are beneficial to farmers, and are a farmer’s best friend. The pesticides take care of weeds, pests, and diseases. Pesticides kill the weeds, diseases, and pests. They are a farmer’s right hand man because it saves them from having to go out and pull weeds by hand. The pesticide business is a fifty million dollar business (Pros and Cons of Pesticides). I think pesticides are a great thing because they save people’s lives by getting rid of the diseases that can get in foods, and they get rid of all the back breaking work for agriculturists.
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...
Did you know that pesticides have been used since the 1600s? Yes in the 1600s the romans burned sulfur to kill insects and they used salts to control weeds. The romans also used honey and arsenic to control ants. The ancient romans crushed the petals of the pyrethrum and they used ants to to eat undesirable insects. By World War II, only thirty pesticides existed(During the late 19th century, farmers were using copper acetoarsenite, calcium arsenate, nicotine sulfate, and sulfur to control insect pests in crops. Pesticides are products that are intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or to mitigate any pest. Pesticide use emerged after World War II, when DDT, BHC, Aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, and 2, 4-D was introduced. After these were introduced, people began abusing these pesticides and the pests became genetically resistant to pesticides. When this happened, non-target plants and animals were harmed and pesticide residues appeared in unexpected places. Researchers during the 1960s, began developing a different approach towards pest control. This was called integrated pest management (IPM). There are ups and downs to pesticides. When we didn’t have pesticides, there was bug spots on the produce,and blemishes. Most people won’t buy the produce if it has these kind of disorders. After pesticides were invented, we didn’t have these sort of problems, therefore sales went up.
...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.
I try to eat healthy and purchase fresh produce. I am aware of a lot of chemicals that get pumped through fruits and vegetables, even the meat we buy. These are all factors that influence my purchases when it comes to groceries. I will admit that I do not buy totally organic, but that is also heavily related to the cost. Organic items are priced much higher than products that are not. I do try to find sales, and stick to organic, hormone free products as often as I can. I believe that a lot the chemicals being used to mass produce, and produce faster crops is not only harmful to ourselves, but it also can’t be good being put back into the environment. Many of the pesticides used will end up in groundwater and from there it is anyone’s guess. Having these chemicals sink deep beneath earth cannot be good. We also need to consider where these chemicals will end up and how that can affect us. I am also always hearing that organic is better because it’s better to support local farmers rather than the huge corporations that are contributing to the environmental
I feel that before someone buys pesticides or chooses to apply them on their property, they have to know the potential damage they are causing. Many carcinogens, mutagens and neurotoxins, such as pesticides, insecticides and herbicides, are what I like to call poison. People do not think that spraying even a small weed killer can be harmless because they think it is only affecting their yard; however, when chemicals are sprayed onto the grass, they become a part of the ecosystem. Many non-target species can be impaired or killed: bees who are very important pollinators, or bacteria and fungi that are imperative to healthy, functional soil. Pesticides can even be harmful to pets, children, and the other people living in surrounding areas. The harmful chemicals can make it into storm drains or public water supplies. This is a very critical concept to grasp because it proves how humans and communities are all connected in various ways. Additionally, it shows how we should be conscious of others when making decisions because our actions can pose a threat to other’s
According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, “Over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used in the United States (US) each year and approximately 5.6 billion pounds are used worldwide.” Do you enjoy being surrounded by chemicals everywhere you go on a daily basis? Pesticides can be found in your food, your backyard, and even in the water you drink. Luckily, there is an easy solution to this problem. Pesticides should not be put on crops due to the health issues, and environmental damage.
With the increased growth of the organic market, farmers have taken a lot of interest in finding other ways to control pests and diseases. The use of pesticides has led to great disasters on the soil, health, and food for the consumers. This and many other factors have made people come up with alternatives to control pests. Sustainable agriculture is a new way that will help solve the pesticide issue. Alternative measures that can be taken include; use of crop
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
With our growing population scientist are trying to develop more and more ways to help sustain our food production to keep up. There are many insects and plants that are harmful to our crops. Pesticides and herbicides are developed so that we can safeguard our food production and keep up with our needs. Our reckless use of pesticides and herbicides are not doing as intended because of the evolution of bugs and other organisms that are resistant to them. nature is forever adapting to the challenges that we force upon it,it is a waste of time and resources fighting it.
Instead of using pesticides in farming a better alternative would be biological control. This is when a natural predator is released into the crop growing area as a result the number of pests can be reduced.
...ates have more than fourteen distinct Federal Acts control the manufacture, registration, distribution, use, consumption and disposal of pesticides, EPA or other department cannot remove all of pesticides residues from our food, air and water. Therefore, Consumers cannot risk their own life to allow farmers and manufacturers do whatever they want to. The best way to have massive reduction for using pesticide is collecting taxes from farmers and manufacturers that overuse and mixing multiple chemicals. “The direct cost of applying a pesticide is only a small fraction of the actual cost. What remains unaccounted for are human illnesses due to pesticide exposures”(disrupting). Because farmers and manufactures react to tax incentives, pesticide will have a significant decline of use and produce pesticide.