There are 2.5 billion pounds of pesticides being applied to agricultural
products each year in the United States. This is ten times more than was applied
forty years ago. It is still unknown as to what type of exact effects these
chemicals may have on individuals. Some farmers that have been using pesticides
in their fields and developed leukemia are finding that the cause of their
disease is from inhaling pesticides. These chemicals are still in use today and
most of them have never been tested for the short or long-term effects that they
may have on humans. Each year there are 10,000 pesticide related poisonings. On
July 4th 1985, over 300 Californians became sick after eating watermelons
treated with the pesticide tenik. Testing supermarket produce is a way of
determining the amount of exposure the consumer receives through common produce
like carrots, tomatoes and lettuce. 44% of foods that were tested in
supermarkets were found to have some traces of pesticide residue on them. Of all
the pesticides found, nineteen of them were a pesticide called DDT. DDT was
banned in this country 12 years prior to the testing. It was believed that these
chemicals might have entered this country from another country that doesn’t
have pesticide restrictions as the U.S. does. Pesticides are contaminating the
Earth’s water supplies. There are seventeen pesticides found in twenty-three
state’s water supplies right now. Scientists at Cornell University conclude
that 99% of pesticides miss the intended source and find their way into the
water, air and soil. Most of the pollution isn’t strong enough to create an
immediate impact on humans so the wildlife is the primary target to these
contaminates. Animals such as the European Starling birds are constantly being
tested and found that they are greatly affected both behaviorally and
psychologically. Farming practices that do not use pesticides/herbicides are
slowly becoming introduced bit biologically created pesticides are not nearly as
productive as found in preliminary testing. Biotechnology has shown to have
successfully resisted pests in plants that were destroyed by pesticides but
still hasn’t proven itself as a better alternative. William Liebhardt Ph.D. is
an Agricultural Specialist at the University of California, Davis and he says,
“When you start spraying with pesticides, you disrupt the natural balance that
exists in nature. As a result, you end up killing beneficial insects, then
insects that were not a problem become problems and this happens repeatedly”
requiring more and more spraying. Spraying crops with chemicals may not have an
immediate effect on humans but the environment needs to be preserved for years
to come in order for crop production to remain a vital link to the human diet.
By not treating the crops, you face a possible situation of a major reduction in
agricultural produce. The non-chemical approach may be the answer but it is
obvious that there needs to be a lot more testing done on these products as well
and they are not economically reasonable yet. But then paying more now is a
small price to pay to have fewer problems later.