Pesticides are chemical compounds used to kill unwanted "pests" such as small insects. These chemicals can harm creatures in many ways, such as how they disrupt genetics, their effects on the ecosystem and their ability to permeate certain produce. Pesticides may appear to be supporting the common good by keeping unwanted pests controlled in agriculture, yet they are more harmful than the public realizes and should be tested under harsher guidelines. To begin with, pesticides are harmful because of their ability to grow within produce. When a pesticide is sprayed on produce, its purpose is to protect the outer skin, yet many make their way into the produce itself (Rabin). One of the most contaminated products from pesticide use is the apple. As apples first begin their process of growth, the outer skin is soft and therefore able to soak up more of its surroundings, including pesticides. 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. Once the apples are almost fully grown, orchard workers will …show more content…
As Michael Crupain, explained, "[W]e're exposed to a cocktail of chemicals from our food on a daily basis". In fact, eating one serving of green beans from the U.S. is two hundred times riskier than eating a serving of U.S. grown broccoli ("Pesticides"). When telling children to eat their fruits and vegetables so that they can be healthy and strong, what deadly diseases are people really exposing them to? Many Americans are not aware of the risk coming from the food grown in their own
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.
Furthermore, food safety is a major issue in the United States. Foodborne illness has caused an estimated 1 and 6 Americans to be sickened, 128,000 hospitalizations, and cause 3,000 deaths each year (http://www.sustainabletable.org/). These numbers may seem shocking, but they are all too real. All of the high levels
Western diet causes many diseases; increases people’s medical need for supplements and vitamins. However one writer disagrees with him and suggests “Eat foods that are less processed” (Denis Burkitt) which is easy to say but hard to apply on. Future more Pollen’s purpose of writing this article was to show how bad the effects of eating Western dieting can be, and to introduce a way to escape and in order to create a healthier country. Pollan also mentions the fact that livestock is being raised on a Western diet too, which means they are raised genetically too which means nothing is healthy like it used to be. In order to strengthen his statement he shows the percent of income spent on food in countries where the diseases percent is smaller to prove indeed “Western diet” is unhealthy, this matters a lot because currently most of the people living in this country are suffering from chronic diseases caused by wrong diet. Michael
Have you ever thought about how your fruits and vegetables are grown? How about which ingredients are put into bug sprays and insecticides to ward off those pesky insects? Look no further because author Rachel Carson looks deep into the many environmental issues caused by pesticides and herbicides in her New York Times best-selling novel, “Silent Spring.” “Silent Spring” is a collection of studies which were performed in an effort to educate others about the harmful things occurring everyday to their foods and every-day environment in hopes of giving them a wake up call. This novel is thought by many to be a revolutionary novel that forced people to take notice of the harm being caused in their world, many of which people were unaware of. After discovering the results of these chemicals, it really makes one wonder, is the luxury of being insect free really worth all of the consequences?
Therefore, our food is not highly processed and we are aware of what we are putting in our body. Pollan urges his audience to be aware of food that contains ingredients that are “unfamiliar, unpronounceable, and more than five in number “ (Pollan). This is most likely because these types of ingredients are harmful when consumed. My mother’s home cooked meals ensure that there is little to no ingredients that we are unfamiliar with. This is especially because my family has a garden in our backyard. I usually do most of the planting and watering and caring of the plants, therefore I am knowledgeable in what’s being put in the
American society has grown so accustomed to receiving their food right away and in large quantities. Only in the past few decades has factory farming come into existence that has made consuming food a non guilt-free action. What originally was a hamburger with slaughtered cow meat is now slaughtered cow meat that’s filled with harmful chemicals. Not only that, the corn that that cow was fed with is also filled with chemicals to make them grow at a faster rate to get that hamburger on a dinner plate as quickly as possible. Bryan Walsh, a staff writer for Time Magazine specializing in environmental issues discusses in his article “America’s Food Crisis” how our food is not only bad for us but dangerous as well. The word dangerous could apply to many different things though. Our food is dangerous to the consumer, the workers and farmers, the animals and the environment. Walsh gives examples of each of these in his article that leads back to the main point of how dangerous the food we are consuming every day really is. He goes into detail on each of them but focuses his information on the consumer.
...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.
Many consumers and farmers have discovered that living in an industrialized culture where the focus has become faster, bigger, and cheaper is not the best way to produce our food. Obsessed with productivity, the agriculture industry is reaping the negative consequences of creating an unsustainable environment for food production. Time and time again, the media captures stories regarding deadly bacterial contamination and dangerous pesticide contamination causing illness and death in our communities. The environment is also damaged and contaminated. This devastating trend, due to irresponsible farming practices as a result of the industrialization of the food industry, has become all too common.
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...
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
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.
The most harmful, from all the different types of processed foods, is ultra-processed foods. Ultra-processed foods are a mixture of cheap ingredients. Some examples are: sugar, high fructose corn syrup, food coloring, and enriched flour. Sixty percent of American’s calorie intake is ultra-processed foods. Cara Rosenbloom, from The Washington Post, explains “… ultra-processed foods are high in sugar, fat and salt, and lack fiber, vitamins and minerals. People who consume more ultra-processed foods have a greater risk of obesity, hypertension and high blood sugar levels, which can lead to heart disease and diabetes.” Even though Ultra-processed foods are very harmful to adults and children, processed foods use pesticides to keep it
There are 2.5 billion pounds of pesticides being applied to agricultural products each year in the United States. This is ten times more than was applied forty years ago. It is still unknown as to what type of exact effects these chemicals may have on individuals. Some farmers that have been using pesticides in their fields and developed leukemia are finding that the cause of their disease is from inhaling pesticides. These chemicals are still in use today and most of them have never been tested for the short or long-term effects that they may have on humans.
Pesticide is a chemical used to prevent, wipe out and control the pest problem in agriculture. The use of pesticides have become a common practice around the world, and used almost everywhere, such as agricultural fields, homes, park and school, and so on. Most pesticides are insecticides, herbicides and fungicides that have distinct purposes. Insecticides are used to control insects; herbicides are used to destroy plants; fungicides are used to prevent molds and mildews. Most commonly pesticides contain highly toxic chemical such as Acid copper chromate (ACC), Acephate and Chlorpyrifos, and so on. One of example of insecticides, Chlorpyrifos, sprays widely on a variety of food and golf courses in order to control pests in a cornfield. However, “Chlorpyrifos can cause cholinesterase inhibition in humans; that is, it can over stimulate the nervous system causing nausea, dizziness, confusion, and at very high exposures (e.g., accidents or major spills), respiratory paralysis and death.” (EPA GOV) In the market has thousands of products are similar as Chlorpyrifos.