Written By: Kiritika Rana
Edited By: Kiritika Rana / YFS Staff
Designed By: Keya Patel
Published By: Rayna Almas
What are Pesticides?
Pesticide is a spray used to kill any unwanted plants or animals in agriculture, especially farmland. Pesticides contain harmful and harsh chemicals that are dangerous to the nearby environment. There are over 800 pesticides that can be used in the United States. The three main pesticides used in the United States and Canada include herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. Herbicides kill any weeds and vegetation. Herbicides are used mostly on lawns whereas to use on grass or small home gardens. Insecticides destroy any insects, it is mostly used in homes, businesses, industries, and agriculture. Fungicides on the other hand, based on their name, kill any fungi. They are used on plants or any moldy surfaces. This pesticide has a huge role when protecting crops.
Disadvantages and Advantages of Pesticides
Whether using pesticides or not, the crops and surrounding environment will have advantages and disadvantages that will impact their daily life. There are many advantages that pesticides have to the surrounding environment and crops. Pesticides make sure that the food humans consume is not affected by any diseases or insects which will be harmful to consume. Farmers using pesticides allow the price of food to be low. The use of pesticides allows a huge amount of food to be grown causing the food to be cheap and available very easily. Some pesticides also stop diseases from nearing the crops which would cause harm to human bodies. While pesticides have advantages there are also many disadvantages they have to people and the environment. The toxic chemical causes many diseases like cancer, and asthma which as of now are untreatable. Pesticides while killing pests that damage crops also kill insects like butterflies and some soil essentials that benefit the crops. Depending on how much pesticides farmers use it pollutes the air, soil and underground water. The pollution of the underground water causes other animals to consume it and will cause problems for them.
Overall, pesticides are useful to farmers as they prevent pests from contaminating crops. Pesticides have advantages and disadvantages to the environment, just as everything else does. In the long term, the disadvantages of pesticides will have a very long-term effect on food systems. This would cause food consumption from crops to be high due to population growth. While the production was very low due to the damaged soil and air. Hence why there are many other alternatives to pesticides that do not damage the environment as much:
- Rotating crops regularly
- Attract birds and bats that will prevent pests or insects from coming
- Get rid of debris like pots or dust
- Create barriers to prevent insects from coming
- Having traps for rodents
Sources
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/pesticides/index.cfm
https://www.aplustopper.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-pesticides/