With approximately 1 billion pounds of pesticides used in the U.S. and 5.6 billion pounds used worldwide, it's no stretch to say that pesticides are used virtually around the globe. In fact, you may have some in use around your home at this very moment. However, while they do a great job of keeping pests away, they may also have some serious negative effects around the environment they are used in. This week, I wanted to discuss what exactly pesticides are, how they are used, and what some of these unintended effects may be. So, without further ado, let's start by defining what exactly pesticides are, and how they can be used.
What are Pesticides?
According to the NSW (New South Whales) EPA's website, pesticides are, "any substance or mixture of substances used to destroy, suppress, or alter the life cycle of any pest." Simply put, they are liquids used to kill pests. But what exactly are pests? Well, depending on where you live, they can be anything, but they are commonly thought of as a destructive animal. Which animals are actually pests may differ depending on your location, or what you have near your home. Anyway, pesticides commonly include bactericides, baits, fungicides, herbicides, insecticide, and other repellents. There are many, many different types of pesticides, too many to name here. However, if you would like to learn more about the different types of pesticides, you can click here. I don't want to make this post too long, so it is only important for the purposes of this post to know the general definition.
What are pesticides used for?
Pesticides are most commonly used to protect agricultural crops, but they are used for a wide variety of other things as well. For instance, they can also be used to destroy weeds, prevent insects from entering a home, contain the spread of bacteria, and much, much more. Most often, homeowners tend to use them to prevent insects and rodents from entering their homes, while farmers use them to protect their crops from other harmful insects. Again, for the purposes of this post, we will look specifically at pesticides used to protects homes and crops, as they are the ones that have the most negative effects.
What's the big deal?
(Big thanks to Sctiable.com and the Green Science Blog for providing the information in this section. If you would like to learn more about this subject, I highly recommend checking them out here)
So why are most types of pesticides dangerous? Well, there are a few different reasons. The first is that, while homeowners and farmers always spray pesticides on land, when rain occurs these pesticides can do one of two things: either seep into the ground, poisoning the soil and groundwater below it, or run off into rivers or streams, resulting in possibly poisoned drinking water. In large quantities, this pesticide-filled water is extremely detrimental to your health. Additionally, through a process called volatilization, pesticides can evaporate into the air, allowing them to spread to other pieces of land, affecting nearby wildlife that is nowhere near the original area.
Finally, many pesticides sprayed on farm-grown fruits and vegetables linger, even after you take them into your homes. Washing fruits and vegetables can remove some of these pesticides, but many of them stay. While the effects of this pesticide consumption are debated, in numerous tests they have been linked to cancer, Alzheimer's Disease, ADHD, and birth defects. According to the Green Science Blog (Which you can check out here), when you eat a non-organic apple, there are over 30 different pesticides still on it!
Pesticide's effect on bees
Additionally, pesticides are one of the leading reasons for the recent drop in bee population that we have seen over the past few years. When bees come into contact with many pesticides used on crops, they either die on the spot, or take the infected pollen back to their hive, which can have much larger, more dangerous complications.
How do we avoid this?
Lastly, I wanted to talk about how we as individuals can avoid consuming and spreading pesticides in our neighborhoods. First, talking about limiting the spread of pesticides, the first way is to just not use them. Now, this is obvious of course, but there are easy ways to avoid using pesticides to protect your home. If you grow food or flowers around your home, instead of using pesticides, use another method. You can use chicken wire to protect a garden, or a motion-activated sprinkler to protect flowers. I myself use a motion-activated sprinkler to protect my garden, and it works very well. Placing certain fragrant flowers can also help to deter specific pests.
However, if you have tried everything else, and must use pesticides, there are still ways to ensure you are making a minimal negative impact. There are numerous organic pesticides that you can make in your home that not only protect your plants or house but also have little to no negative effects. There are too many to list here, but some of the most notable are: neem oil, salt spray, mineral oil, and citrus oil (I got these suggestions from globalhealingcenter.com, so check them out if you want to see other solutions). I personally to use neem to protect my home garden, and not only does it do a great job of protecting, but there are no negative effects (if it is homemade).
But how do you avoid consuming pesticides from store bought produce? Well, the best way is to grow your own produce. That way, if you don't put any pesticides on, you can be 100% sure there are no pesticides on that food. However, not everyone has the space or time to run a garden. So, when buying produce, make sure to buy organic and locally grown produce. You can tell if fruit is grown organically by the numbers on their sticker. If the number is five digits, it is organic. Otherwise, it is not. Lastly, there are specific washes made for fruits and vegetables that are supposed to clean off more pesticides then just normal water. Some of the most prevalent examples are Environné and Vitanet, which may not get all pesticides, but will certainly limit the amount.
Conclusion
So, pesticides are certainly useful for keeping unwanted pests away, but they also have some unintended side effects we should be worried about. However, if you use the tips I have provided, your diet should be largely free of this harmful pesticide residue. And if you absolutely have to avoid them, then start your own garden! It may seem tough, but speaking from experience it is much easier and much tastier than many people think. Anyway, this was a bit of a longer post, so if you made it all the way to the end I want to give a big thank you. If you want to learn more about pesticides and how to avoid them, make sure to visit the links below. Also, make sure to check back next Sunday as I will be posting about the reasons behind the rapid decline in bee populations. Thanks for reading.
All credit for information used in this post goes to:
https://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/green-science/the_dangers_of_pesticides
http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/pesticides/pestwhatrhow.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2946087/
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/pesticides/index.cfm
https://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/organic-pesticides/
http://caes2.caes.uga.edu/bees/pollination/protecting-pollinators-pesticides.html
http://learn.eartheasy.com/2010/05/6-ways-to-reduce-your-exposure-to-pesticides/
Images:
https://www.rodalewellness.com/health/10-crazy-things-pesticides-are-doing-to-your-body
http://sustainablepulse.com/2016/11/23/european-court-of-justice-pesticide-safety-studiesmust-be-disclosed/#.WX4A-ceGOUk
https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/pesticides-an-economic-nonsense/
http://pesticides.e-monsite.com/album/do_xml/album/
http://smart-farms.net/our-approach/water-management
http://berryripe.com/washing-fruits-and-vegetables/
http://pestworldforkids.org/pest-guide/bees/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4feEceifGMU
https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/neem-oil/
https://brightside.me/wonder-curiosities/i-was-shocked-when-i-discovered-the-meaning-of-fruit-stickers-i-thought-it-was-an-irrelevant-detail-272460/
http://www.cleanwateraction.org/2016/03/16/lawn-pesticides-are-not-safe-or-necessary
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