The Effects of Pesticides The United States uses more than one billion pounds of pesticides every year; that is about three pounds per person (“10 Facts About Pesticides”). For years, farmers, scientists, and the general public have been debating about the use of these chemicals in the process of growing food. Are they safe? Are they necessary? The food industry seems to think so, considering the use of pesticides has grown rapidly since first invented over 4,500 years ago by the Sumerians (“History of Pesticide Use”). Food is not only one of the most important human needs, but it is also constantly high in demand. Any means that ensure the population won’t go hungry seem essential. However, it is important to consider how these unnatural …show more content…
Any animal that drinks water can be affected, due to surface water contamination. Pesticides can reach bodies of water through runoff that has come in contact with treated plants. According to a study performed by the U.S. Geological Survey on major basins across the country, more than “90 percent of water and fish samples from all streams contained one, or more often, several pesticides” (Aktar). These chemicals have proven to be linked to “cancer, endocrine disruption, reproductive effects, neurotoxicity, kidney and liver damage, birth defects and developmental changes in a wide range of species” (“Impacts of Pesticides”). By exposing animals to these detrimental substances, humans are putting the health of other species at risk. Not only can they be damaging to their health, but pesticides can also change animal behavior, detering their survival skills (“Impacts of Pesticides”). Plants that contain pesticides are also responsible for animal exposure. Even carnivores have been affected; when primary sources such as insects consume the tainted plants, they are in turn exposing the secondary consumers that consider them as prey (Mahmood). This continues until the chemicals make their way up the food chain and the entire ecosystem is
Why? It’s because, the chemicals goes into the soil and makes runoff from the stormwater, and gets into the water, and pollutes it. The chemicals make the water polluted, which also harms the wildlife. Other things including sediments, dirt, and muck also get in the water
2.21 PESTICIDES Manahan (19..) discusses pesticides as water pollutants. DDT was introduced after World War II which accelerated pesticide use. Manahan (19..) states that by the mid-1990s agricultural use of pesticides was over 300 million kg per year and millions more kg of pesticides were used in non-agricultural applications. Manahan: Insecticides such as diazinon, carbaryl and chlorpyifos are most commonly found in water.
There is always opposition to pesticides because of the harm that it can cause on the environment and the animals alike. Pesticides though have saved a lot of hard work for farmers over the past couple of decades because it does all the dirty work, for example, the killing of weeds and other pests. Pesticides have also saved a lot of money for farmers by preventing pests from damaging crops or taking the nutrients and water supply away from crops. (Whitford, 7) In the future we need to start to find less toxic ways to prevent pests from attacking the crops and vegetation. This would prevent a lot of the other costs associated with pesticides for example, health costs for farmers that are exposed to the toxic chemicals or the killing of the habitats in the surrounding areas.
In the United States today, a large part of the average person’s life is food. Each individual consumes nearly one ton of food each year, but never knows what they are truly putting into their body. Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, was one of the earliest works that provided people an insight to the production of their food. The novel was originally written to show the mistreatment of the workers, typically immigrants, but instead resulted in the passing of the Pure Food Act of 1906. The movie, Food Inc. provides today’s people the same insight that The Jungle gave the people in 1906.
The US sprays 16 million acres of Naled every year which has been linked to neurological defects which raises concern. While the insecticide is approved to be safe for crops and water supplies, it is recommended to wash produce and avoid direct contact. Although there is little risk for the environment while using Naled, wildlife is not as safe. There is threats to aquatic and terrestrial wildlife. The risks begin before the insecticide has fully broken down which does not persist for long periods of time.
The Central Valley of California is known to be one of the wealthiest agricultural regions in the world. Decades ago the chemical industries promised that pesticides would benefit fields and harvest. But recently a five-year study conducted by the National Academy showed that pesticides do not in fact provide profit or improve growth in crops. Chavez goes on to talk about how fields are sprayed with Captan, Parathion,
In 1995, the National Water Quality Assessment Program collected water samples from thirty domestic wells to understand the concentrations and occurrence of pesticides and nitrates (Burow & Dubrowsky,
In the first chapter of “Living Downstream” by Sandra Steingraber discussed about personal experiences living in Illinois and discovering how much the landscape has changed over the years. In addition to the changing landscape, cancer, especially breast cancer, has increased in the prairies of Illinois and pesticides usage may cause. Much of the discussion first begin with the change of landscape as the prairies of Illinois has become a place for farming and pesticides. As farming became an important aspect of Illinois, pesticides were created to remove any bugs or insects from the product that is being farmed. A few pesticides formulas that came to be are atrazine, dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane (DDT), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
By doing this some of the consumers can be easy to catch a new disease or get even sickly with the pesticide and
When bees are in contact with the toxic pesticides, they may also be intoxicated and not be able to find their way home. Who would have known that pesticides, created for better crops, would cause more harm than good? It is like a nefarious virus humans created that in fact is themselves and everything around them. So, what can we do to help out?
Jeri Ward Professor Lyn Froehlich English 1101 30 September 2015 Pesticides and the Death of Pollinators Our world as we know it may not exist in the near future. Right now, pesticides are eradicating pollinators by the thousands. These essential organisms are the major way that plants are able to reproduce. If pollinators are eliminated, the earth will lose a significant amount of vegetation, resulting in a considerable deficit of oxygen and precipitation.
What is the amount of pesticide that we have in our body? , and how do pesticides affect our health and the environment? According to recent studies, we can find seven different types of pesticides in a simple strawberry. For this
Pesticides and How it Works Abstract: A pest is "a plant or creature unfavorable to people or human concerns". Pesticide is Chemical or natural substance intended to slaughter or retard the development of pests that harm or meddle with the development of products, bushes, trees, timber and other vegetation coveted by people. Keywords: Antimicrobials, Antimicrobials, Herbicides Introduction:
At this time, there is little to no evidence that these pesticides are increasing yields from plants they are applied to. However, there has been evidence of the pesticides killing bees or causing damage to their nervous systems, which impedes their ability to forage and fly. Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health preformed a study which found that 70% of pollen and honey collected from local bees contained at least trace amounts of neonicotinoids. Levels found from these samples were enough to cause detrimental health effects. In a separate study, they found that over half of plants at a major garden store contained neonicotinoids.
This impact can be reduced by the company by putting more efforts and investment in development and research to improve and eliminate the side effects of their products without much damaging the environment (Monsanto, 2018). Furthermore, Monsanto can employ a team to regularly check whether the negative effects are still being possessed by their products and if it so then the authorities can be alarmed about this and suitable actions can be taken against this