Pesticides - Growing Evidence of Danger
Pesticides are used everywhere in the food and textile industry. And there is
growing evidence that they are more harmful than we knew.
Pesticides are basically used to kill bugs - bugs that grow on our food and on plants we
use for cloth.
As we start to study their effects on us and our environment, the results are very
concerning. Pesticides have been linked to birth defects, stunting healthy growth and
learning disabilities.
The Evidence
One study looked at families living near wheat growing areas where pesticides were
used.
Babies born in this area had a 65% higher risk of birth defects. These defects were
related to babies' lungs and blood systems. Deaths related to the birth defects in male
babies were over 2.5 times higher than normal.
The first few months are a critical period when babies' internal organs are still
developing and maturing. Compared to adults, babies eat more, drink more and have a
higher metabolism than grown ups. This makes them even vulnerable to pesticides.
Young children also more likely to spend time playing outside and lying on lawns. This
brings them in more contact with chemicals used on plants.
Pesticides may harm a baby's development by blocking the absorption of important
nutrients. This prevents healthy growth. Babies aren't able to remove pesticides from
their systems as easily as adults.
Which Chemicals are Harmful?
One of the main suspects in the pesticide wars are a group of chemicals called
chlorophenoxy herbicides. These are suspected of being responsible for many birth
defects in babies. These weedkillers often used by councils to kill weeds alongside roads
and canals. They can then wash into the groundwater supply.
Another group of harmful pesticides are organophosphates. About 60 million pounds of
pesticides are applied to about 60 million acres of farmland in the USA every year. An
additional 17 million pounds are used in houses on lawns in gardens.
Environmental Hazards
To show the true cost to the environment, several water utilities in Germany now pay
farmers to switch to organic operations. This is because switching farmers to organic
farming costs less than removing farm chemicals from water supplies.
In some recent tests, 90% of water and fish samples from streams in the USA had
pesticides. About 50% of all sampled wells contained one or more pesticides.
Pesticides are also dangerous because they stick around. DDT, chlordane and some
other organochlorine pesticides keep showing up in the food supply years after they
were banned.
In one study, Chlordane, a pesticide banned 38 years earlier was found in vegetables
planted in contaminated ground.
What can We Do?
On the positive side, for every toxic chemical, there is a natural alternative. One study
measuring pesticide traces in children found only one child who had no measurable
chemicals. This child lives in a family that buys exclusively organic produce and does not
use any pesticides at home.
The toxic pesticide Lindane was found in non-organic milk, but not organic milk. In 2001, traces of the banned carcinogen DDT was found in non-organic butter, with not in
organic butter.
Are Pesticides Needed?
One final point - pesticides are a quick solution to growing vegetables, but they create
more problems than they solve. Because they tend to kill the weaker pests, the stronger
ones survive, building and 'immunity' amongst bugs. So the pests become resistant to
the poison, forcing farmers to turn to even more lethal chemicals.
"In the past 50 years, more than 500 insect pests, 230 crop diseases, and 220 weeds
have become resistant to pesticides and herbicides."
So - organic farming is not only healthier, but better all round in the long run. Healthier
babies, environment and even healthier bugs add to our well being.
References:
Donella H. Meadows, "Our food, our future," in September/October
2000 issue of Organic Gardening.
"Endocrine, immune, and behavioral effects of aldicarb (carbamate),
atrazine (triazine) and nitrate (fertilizer) mixtures at groundwater
concentrations," by Warren P. Porter, James W. Jaeger, and Ian H. Carlson,
Toxicology and Industrial Health:15, pages 133-150, 1999.
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, May 15, 2000, cited in a
May 6, 2000, Associated Press article written by Philip Brasher.
Environmental Health Perspectives
Volume 111(9):1259-1264, July, 2003