Pesticides. Where to begin?

Uses of Pesticides to kill the plant, animal and fungal pests. Farmers use them to protect their crops and livestock from weeds, disease, insects, and rodents. In 2014 over half a billion pounds of pesticides were used in agricultural farming.

But farmers aren’t the only who Uses of Pesticides. Pesticides are everywhere. We keep insecticides under our kitchen sinks, and herbicides in our garden shed. We spray pesticides in our homes, our gardens, along roads and in schools.

Due to our widespread pesticide use, surface water, groundwater, and ultimately many sources of drinking water are becoming contaminated with the chemicals we are using to kill pests. Yep, that’s right. Chemicals we spray on our food to kill insects, weeds, rodents, and fungi have found their way into our drinking water sources.

Large-scale use of anything will eventually find its way into water sources. When you spray pesticides on crops and in fields eventually these chemicals will become absorbed into the ground, carried down through the soil by water into groundwater sources. Or, these chemicals can runoff from the land into rivers, lakes, creeks, streams, and (although not always) into surface water sources.

One of the most commonly found pesticides in water sources is atrazine. For over 50 years, every year, millions of pounds of this herbicide have been applied to crops. Atrazine (which we will look at more closely next post) has been classified by Health Canada as possibly carcinogenic to humans. And if you didn’t know, a carcinogen is a substance capable of causing cancer.

Pesticide use also threatens wildlife. Most pesticides are non-specific, meaning they don’t target specific weeds, insects, and rodents, thus affecting a large number of species, whether pest or not.

Even the World Health Organization considers acute pesticide poisoning a global health issue.

Uses of Pesticides are harmful to us.  So why are we still using chemicals like atrazine if they’re finding their way into our drinking water and endangering our lives and that of wildlife?

Well, there are a lot of benefits to the Uses of Pesticides. Pesticides prevent the spread of diseases like malaria, typhoid, and yellow fever. Pesticides increase food production, which in turn lowers prices. This allows people in less developed nations access to nutritious food. And in a world where developed nations are reaching unheard of obesity rates, this makes nutritious food and basic nutrition available to a wider audience worldwide.

In our households, insecticide products are used to control termites, cockroaches, and even rats. Herbicides are used to control vegetation that may obstruct city infrastructures, such as waterways, railroads, and highways.

I could list endless pros and cons of pesticide use, but at the end of the day, is it worth it? Perhaps because I live in a developed nation where I have a choice (although not always the funds) between buying organic (pesticide-free products) vs. products laden with chemicals the choice is obvious for me. But likely, if I lived somewhere else the choice wouldn’t be that easy. What are your thoughts? Do the pros outweigh the cons?

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