Pesticides Essay -- essays research papers

Pesticides Problems with formatting There are many important issues in the world regarding the environment and it's affects on the average person. Though, the one that hits closest to home, worldwide, is the trust that individuals have in the food that they consume. Yet pesticides are still found daily in foods all around the world. Pesticides are toxins that are used by produce growers universally to control pests that can destroy crops. These toxins are being ingested by humans in the forms of fruits and vegetables that have remaining toxins on them. How safe are these toxins to humans and what is being done to safeguard the environment as well as the health of individuals? Does the average person consume harmful amounts of poison at every meal? If the levels are unsafe, why is this problem continuing to get a blind eye from the people who are supposed to protect society? These questions when asked only lead to more questions. Until things are done to change the systems of pesticide usage universally, society can never be sure as to the long term effects on our environment and what they are eating or giving to the future of our world, the children. In some foreign countries pesticides are used more frequently with legislative control than in the United States. In Mexico and South America, for example, many of the pesticides that the United States and Europe have banned, wind up being used on a majority of their produce crops. The largest problem with this is that Europe and the United States import from South America for produce all of the time. What good does it do to ban harmful agricultural chemicals to be used on domestically grown crops if crops in other countries are grown with these same harmful chemicals, and are then allowed to be imported? Mexico and South America are the leading suppliers of produce for the earth's population because their climate is very conducive to year around crops. Unfortunately those countries are also known for their large amount of insects of all varieties. These insects are steadily becoming more and more immune to toxins that are sprayed on crops. More than five hundred insects, one hundred and fifty plant diseases and two hundred and seventy weeds are now resistant to pesticides. Results are that U.S. growers as well, are steadily forced to apply more and stronger toxins. As the amount an... ...TM Loops, Marilyn. "Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children: What Are the Issues?" National Network for ChildCare Online. Internet. 11 Oct 1998. Available http://www.exnet.iastate.edu/pages/nncc/Nutrition/pestic.infant.html "Our Vanishing Wildlife." In Harmony. Online. Internet. 11 Oct. 1998. Available http://www.inharmony.com./pestwild.htm "Pesticide and Food Safety." California Environmental Protection Agency: Department of Pesticide Regulation July 1997:1-2. Online. Internet. 11 Oct. 1998. Available http://www.cdpr.ca.gov. "Pesticides and Food Safety." IFIC Jan. 1995: 1-13. Online. Internet. 13 Oct. 1998 Available http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/agfacts/pesticides/pesticides.html Pimental, David. "Environmental and Economic Costs of Pesticides." Bioscience Nov. 1998. Online. Internet. 13 Oct. 1998 Available http://207.82.250/251/cgi-bin/getmsg? Wheat, Andrew. "Toxic Bananas." Multinational Monitor Sept. 1996: 9-15 Online. Internet. 13 Oct. 1998. Available http://www.essential.org/monitor/hyper/mm0996.04.html Zuckerman, Seth. "Across the Great Divide." Sierra Sept. 1992: 20-21. Online. Internet. 7 Apr. 1998. Available http://207.82.250/251/cgi-bin/getmsg?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pesticides Essay -- essays research papers Pesticides Problems with formatting There are many important issues in the world regarding the environment and it's affects on the average person. Though, the one that hits closest to home, worldwide, is the trust that individuals have in the food that they consume. Yet pesticides are still found daily in foods all around the world. Pesticides are toxins that are used by produce growers universally to control pests that can destroy crops. These toxins are being ingested by humans in the forms of fruits and vegetables that have remaining toxins on them. How safe are these toxins to humans and what is being done to safeguard the environment as well as the health of individuals? Does the average person consume harmful amounts of poison at every meal? If the levels are unsafe, why is this problem continuing to get a blind eye from the people who are supposed to protect society? These questions when asked only lead to more questions. Until things are done to change the systems of pesticide usage universally, society can never be sure as to the long term effects on our environment and what they are eating or giving to the future of our world, the children. In some foreign countries pesticides are used more frequently with legislative control than in the United States. In Mexico and South America, for example, many of the pesticides that the United States and Europe have banned, wind up being used on a majority of their produce crops. The largest problem with this is that Europe and the United States import from South America for produce all of the time. What good does it do to ban harmful agricultural chemicals to be used on domestically grown crops if crops in other countries are grown with these same harmful chemicals, and are then allowed to be imported? Mexico and South America are the leading suppliers of produce for the earth's population because their climate is very conducive to year around crops. Unfortunately those countries are also known for their large amount of insects of all varieties. These insects are steadily becoming more and more immune to toxins that are sprayed on crops. More than five hundred insects, one hundred and fifty plant diseases and two hundred and seventy weeds are now resistant to pesticides. Results are that U.S. growers as well, are steadily forced to apply more and stronger toxins. As the amount an... ...TM Loops, Marilyn. "Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children: What Are the Issues?" National Network for ChildCare Online. Internet. 11 Oct 1998. Available http://www.exnet.iastate.edu/pages/nncc/Nutrition/pestic.infant.html "Our Vanishing Wildlife." In Harmony. Online. Internet. 11 Oct. 1998. Available http://www.inharmony.com./pestwild.htm "Pesticide and Food Safety." California Environmental Protection Agency: Department of Pesticide Regulation July 1997:1-2. Online. Internet. 11 Oct. 1998. Available http://www.cdpr.ca.gov. "Pesticides and Food Safety." IFIC Jan. 1995: 1-13. Online. Internet. 13 Oct. 1998 Available http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/agfacts/pesticides/pesticides.html Pimental, David. "Environmental and Economic Costs of Pesticides." Bioscience Nov. 1998. Online. Internet. 13 Oct. 1998 Available http://207.82.250/251/cgi-bin/getmsg? Wheat, Andrew. "Toxic Bananas." Multinational Monitor Sept. 1996: 9-15 Online. Internet. 13 Oct. 1998. Available http://www.essential.org/monitor/hyper/mm0996.04.html Zuckerman, Seth. "Across the Great Divide." Sierra Sept. 1992: 20-21. Online. Internet. 7 Apr. 1998. Available http://207.82.250/251/cgi-bin/getmsg?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚