Overview Fertilizers and pesticides both have definite pros and cons associated with their use. Both types of chemical tend to increase yields, and thus make a significant difference in food production, particularly in countries that struggle periodically with famines. On the other hand, they both can cause water pollution when erosion carries the chemicals off of farms along with eroded soils after each rainfall. There is also concern by some authorities that pesticides pose a risk, not only to nontarget animal and plant species, but to humans as well. Positive Effects of Fertilizers There is no doubt that fertilizers increase yields of crops around the world. Use of modern fertilizers exploded after World War II. New, ammonia-based fertilizers …show more content…
Pesticides serve many functions, some of which are more essential to society than others. Pesticides can prevent crop failure, control invasive plants, or promote a uniformly green lawn. Some pesticides reduce blemishes on fruit and vegetables, ensuring that a greater proportion of the crop is marketable. Negative Effects of Pesticides According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, pesticides have as yet incompletely understood effects on humans. Most people are exposed to a certain level of pesticides. Farmers who experience routine exposure to pesticides have exhibited neurological symptoms such as headache and hand tremors. Children, in particular, may be more susceptible to negative effects resulting from pesticide exposure. Pesticide runoff can have devastating effects on nontarget organisms as well. For example, roundup, an extremely common herbicide used in agriculture, is highly toxic to fish and amphibians. The National Coalition for Pesticide-Free Lawns says, "Of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides, 19 are linked with cancer or carcinogencity, 13 are linked with birth defects, 21 with reproductive effects, 26 with liver or kidney damage, 15 with neurotoxicity, and 11 with disruption of the endocrine …show more content…
Most people are exposed to a certain level of pesticides. Farmers who experience routine exposure to pesticides have exhibited neurological symptoms such as headache and hand tremors. Children, in particular, may be more susceptible to negative effects resulting from pesticide exposure. Pesticide runoff can have devastating effects on nontarget organisms as well. For example, roundup, an extremely common herbicide used in agriculture, is highly toxic to fish and amphibians. The National Coalition for Pesticide-Free Lawns says, "Of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides, 19 are linked with cancer or carcinogencity, 13 are linked with birth defects, 21 with reproductive effects, 26 with liver or kidney damage, 15 with neurotoxicity, and 11 with disruption of the endocrine
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.
If the experiment was completed again, more higher concentrations could be applied to the seeds to see if the data is further supported. Either way the more trials the better and more accurate results, this applies to any experiment. Practical applications of the principles of this investigation may be using the correct concentration for a specific plant or seed. This lab shows that it is necessary to follow the directions and specifications when using the fertilizer miracle
Developing fetuses are hypersensitive to the dioxins. Exposure to dioxins causes miscarriages, spina bifida, and other numerous health problems with the fetal development of the brain and nervous system. Dioxin was not intentionally added to the compound. It was merely a byproduct produced during the process of manufacturing, but the chemical companies that produced the Vietnam-era herbicides say they were not fully aware of how toxic the dioxin contaminant was so they accelerated the production. Dioxin was also found in varying concentrations in all the different herbicides used, but TCDD was only found in Agent Orange.
Is this what our wildlife has to look forward to? The EPA's benzovindiflupyr oversight doesn't end there. In a litany of bad decisions, the EPA also approved 3 more pesticides -- difenoconazole, propiconazole and azoxystrobin. Like benzovindiflupyr, the impacts of these pesticides on our wildlife were also not fully investigated.
Companies have known that their pesticides and fungicides could cause cancer and birth defects, but have still used them. These companies acted to gain money without any thought given to the people who they were harming. When some of these companies were accused of not stopping the use of the harmful agents, many settled, but not many admitted or felt any guilt for the actions that they took. Corporations have no feelings other than their drive to gain profits, and many companies harm people for their own personal
Arturo Rodriguez the current president of the United Farm Workers, explains that around two million farm workers grow and harvest food each day, and around ten to twenty thousand are impacted from an illness from pesticides. He exposes the issue of pesticides and its effect on the farmworkers. Exposure to these chemicals can cause detrimental health effects such as asthma, allergies, cancer and hormone disruption (Lozowicka, 1480). While Rodriquez did not give examples of the health effects he argued the main point that farmers need protection from pesticides. Ceja mentioned the issue of pesticides, however she never explicitly said she does not use pesticides in her vineyard.
The pesticides have harmful chemicals, called Neonicotinoids. When bees go to pollinate a flower, they store their nectar in something called a honey stomach, and the bees take to their pollinated substance to their hive. But the pesticides get into the nectar, and the nectar is put into the bee’s stomach, and they get sick. These chemicals are not only harming the bees, but birds as well. In the Netherlands, bird populations dropped in areas where neonicotinoid was used.
Pesticides have been used by farmers and other people for crops. The pesticide helps get rid of insects and any other organism that tries to destroy the plant. When theses pesticides are used on the crops it has an effect on the honey bees. The honey bee, when effected by pesticides loses its memory, cognition, and forgets how to behave. From just pesticide use alone, they have found that the pesticides accompanied for 50 percent of honey bee deaths just in the winter time.
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).
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?
6. Respiratory Disorders: Another concerning symptom of presentation to or ingestion of pesticides are respiratory issue, including wheezing, endless bronchitis, asthma and agriculturist's lung. Normal presentation to pesticides expands your danger for creating respiratory issues, however can be reduced with fitting respiratory assurance and every day precaution
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
Contaminated water may contain high levels of nitrates and nitrites, causing haemoglobin disorders. Moreover, (April 2015) Environment associations says that most of the people all know that fertilizers are used for proper and healthy growth of plan but are they really healthy and what exactly are fertilizers and how do fertilizers affect the environment. It is a fertilizer is a substance, be it synthetic or organic which is added to the soil in order to increase the supply of essential nutrients that boost the growth of plants and vegetation in that soil. With the rapid increase in population globally, the demand of food and agricultural give in has been rising very highly. This is the reason why statistics show that almost 40-60% of agricultural crops are grown with the use of different types of fertilizers not only this, more than 50 percent