Pesticides Pose a Threat to the World, to Life, and to People

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Recommended: Impact of pesticide use in agriculture

The United States relies heavily on pesticide to meet the nation’s food demand. Pesticides eradicate pests by giving a bad taste to the produce, or causing a disease. This can affect humans, however (Huff). Because of constant spray usage, natural selection causes the pests to become more and more resistant with the passing years. The harmful effects on the environment and humans are usually irreversible, and life-long. Pesticide causes more damage to the environment and to people than protection to the crop.

Although production of pesticide requires careful inspection, harmful residue still lines the supermarket aisles. The Dow Chemical Co. produces the most widely used pesticides in the United States, and even the World (Lu). In fact, over 1,350,000,000 pounds of pesticide and related products are produced in the U.S. alone (Huff). In addition, production increases 3% each year (Huff). However, because harmful bacteria and insects are growing more resistant to the spray (Huff), new forms of pesticide have to be tested by the EPA every year (EPA). These tests include checking possible side effects, strength, and problems created in the environment (EPA). According the Food Quality Protection Act, the EPA has to determine a safe amount of pesticide in food (Lu). However, because of apparent birth defects and neurological problems, Chuck Benbrook states “The pesticide limits that EPA permits are far, far too high to say they're safe” (Lu). Moreover, pesticides harmful enough to be banned in the U.S. are shipped to developing foreign countries (Huff). Not surprisingly, because the U.S. imports food when crops are out of season, traces of pesticide found in urine samples are higher in the winter (Lu). The harmful ef...

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... However, knowledge of whether foods should be bought conventionally or organically is smart. To conclude, pesticide poses a threat to the world, to life, and to people.

Works Cited

Blades, Steven. "How Harmful Are Pesticides to the Environment?" Blades Lawn Care Tips :: Lawn Maintenance. Blades Lawn Care, 2009. Web. 01 Mar. 2011.

Lu, Chensheng. "Harmful Pesticides Found in Everyday Food Products." Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Seattlepi., 30 Jan. 2008. Web. 01 Mar. 2011.

EPA. "Ecological Risk Assessments | Pesticides | US EPA." US Environmental Protection Agency. EPA, 16 Feb. 2011. Web. 01 Mar. 2011.

Huff, James. "Stop Pesticides: Bugs Are Better." Ibiblio - The Public's Library and Digital Archive. Ibiblio, 2009. Web. 01 Mar. 2011.

Lorenz, Eric S. "Potential Health Effects of Pesticide." Pesticide Safety FactSheet. PennState, 2009. Web. 01 Mar. 2011.

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