The Destructive Use of Pesticides in Agriculture Essay...

The Destructive Use of Pesticides in Agriculture When I was a child, I can remember my parents taking me into the apple orchard and picking apples. I couldnt wait to eat them until I got home, so I would have one for a snack right in the middle of the field. Today, when I take my children apple picking, I cannot let the children eat an apple out of fear of what pesticides could be on the apple and the harmful affects they can cause. Instead I have to take them home and scrub them before they can even take a bite. This is the result of the harmful pesticides that have left their mark on our argriculture. A pest is any species that competes with us for food invades our homes and gardens, destroys wood in houses, spreads disease,†¦show more content†¦In the United States approximately 25 percent of pesticide use is for ridding house, gardens, lawns, playingfields, swimming pools, and golf courses of unwanted pests. According to the EPA, the average lawn in the United States is doused with more than ten times the needed amount of insecticides. Each year more than 200,000 U.S. residents become a ill because of household use of pesticides resulting from accidental poisoning. Broad spectrum agents are toxic to many species while others called selective or in narrow spectrum agents are effective against barely defined groups of organisms. Pesticides very in their persistence in the length of time they remain deadly in the environment. Supporters of pesticides state they save human lives, increase food supply, lower food costs, increased profits for farmers, in the field that the health risks are in significant compared to the benefits(Miller, 1998). Since 1945, EDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbon and organic bio phosphate insecticides have probably prevented the premature deaths of at least 7 million people from inset transmitted diseases such as malaria (mosquito), bubonic plague(rat fleas), typhus(body lice), and sleeping sickness(tsetse fly). About 55 percent of the worlds human food supply is lost to pests before or after harvest in the United States. An estimated 37 percent of theShow MoreRelatedImportance Of Microbiology824 Words   |  3 Pagesï » ¿Importance of Microbiology| in Nursing Agriculture Pharmacy Advertisement Microbiology  is a subject dealing with microbes and related concepts.  Microbiology  has  come a long  way since discovery of microbes and is presently of great help to mankind. 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