Pesticides Case Study

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In 1962, Rachel Carson startled the pesticide industry with her research and endeavors to educate the public about the statistical evidence of the harmful effects of chemical pesticides in the environment. This environmental movement helped to ban toxic chemicals, such as DDT. However, over the years the restrictions and regulations on the pesticide chemicals began to ease and the agricultural industry continued to increase the use of pesticides. In the farming industry the pesticides play a major role in increasing production yields and therefore making produce more affordable. However, the increase in brain tumors in agricultural workers and brain damage in children has caused scientists and doctors to investigate this dilemma by conducting …show more content…

One study was conducted in eastern Nebraska. The purpose of the study was to determine the risk of glioma, a brain tumor, associated with farming and the use of agricultural pesticide. The study included random selections from the eastern Nebraska area. The study was completed by telephone interviews of men and women in the Nebraska area who were diagnosed with gliomas. The participants were asked what type of pesticides they used in their farming operation. The data was collected and compared for the types of pesticides and the chemicals within those pesticides to see if there were positive associations between certain pesticides and those who had glioma (Lee et al). Interestingly, the authors of the Nebraska study discovered that there were significant associations connected with certain agricultural pesticide exposures and the risk of the brain tumor, glioma, and the chemical chlorpyrifos was in the pesticide (Lee et al). Yet, further studies were conducted on the orchard farmers and their families in Kashmir. There were increasing numbers of malignant brain tumors in Kashmir, and researchers wanted to see if there was any relationship between their occupation as orchard farmers and an increase

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