Pesticides: Are They Killing Us Instead of the Bugs?

Every time I see a commercial from Orkin, Raid, and other fraudulent attempts about spraying pesticides, I simply shake my head and change the channel. If people knew the truth about pesticides, they wouldn't use them. Pesticides are believed to be a leading cause for increasing cases of cancer, birth defects, autism, allergies, and mental retardation.

Pesticides originated from chemical warfare in the World Wars. In World War 1, there were trenches in the ground for men and machine guns to station, and, as everyone knows, millions of men died. Poisonous gases were also sprayed onto the battlefield if the wind was blowing towards the enemy trenches. When the poisonous gas reached the trench, the men either had to stay and die in their trench or evacuate their trench and get shot in the open battlefield. During the first world war, the U.S. did not produce an excessive amount of poisonous gases. However, in World War 2, the U.S. produced so much poisonous gases, pesticides, and toxic sprays that there were too many reserves left after the war was won. To get rid of the sitting chemicals, the government decided to use them on the pests instead of their fellow Europeans.

The pesticides have come a long way since the 1950's. They eradicated Malaria, for example. However, people forget that they almost eradicated thousands of species in the process. Pesticides are becoming more widespread, and while scientists are rushing to find a cure for cancer, they are forgetting about what is causing it. The United States homeowners have embraced pesticides extensively. We use them so much, in fact, that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are 900% more pesticides on an acre of U.S. homeland than on an acre of U.S. cropland.

But why can people not see they are harming us? Toxins affect us in two different ways. There is the acute phase, which harms humans in a short span of time, and there is the lag phase, which can span as long as 30 years. Toxin and poison control centers test the acute phases to see if toxins cause any harm to humans. However, the toxin and poison control centers do not have the funding or ability to test if the substances will harm us in the next 20 to 40 years. Therefore, potential toxins and pesticides are put all around us. There is no way test centers can test the lag phase for the thousands of new chemicals that are found each year. The result is the numerous problems, including cancer, that develops in the later years of a person's lifespan.

Toxins also harm three of our systems: the immune, endocrine, and nervous systems. Allergies are increasing more and more because of the abuse pesticides are granting our immune systems. My Environmental Science teacher is an example. When she was young, her parents were petrified of germs. Whenever she scrapped her knee or got a cut, her parents would rub concentrated Lysol on her to disinfect the wounds. Her life kept running on normally until she was about 21 years old. Her allergies did not develop until 21 because of the toxin's lag phases, and her allergies became so bad that she could barely talk. She now takes Claritin-D to function as a normal individual. I also know numerous people who are retarded since birth. Pesticides and toxins may have affected their endocrine systems, which is essential for a baby in a pregnant mother. Toxins also affect the nervous system, and give the rising occurrences of ADD, autism, mental retardation, and other psychological disorders.

Integrated Pest Management is a new science in infancy, but is hoped to be the substitute for these problems in our backyards. Scientists hope they will find an ideal pesticide that will only harm the bugs, but so far they have had half a century to do this and our problems are only rising with health care costs. Natural ways of pest control can include the original reason why we love cats. Other ways include using radiation to make the pests infertile for reproduction. Another way includes using natural plants that fend away bugs. All of these methods are just some ways of Integrated Pest Management, and so far, it sounds a lot safer than Biological Warfare.

I could bore you with hundreds and thousands of reasons why pesticides are bad, but I will only give you the basics. Cancer, autism, retardation, birth defects, and allergies are only some of the problems. Now, however, all I can say is stay away from pesticides. Try using them as a last result, and especially keep young children and pregnant mothers from potentially lethal areas. These areas can range from bug spray to soccer fields lined with the flags "Caution: Pesticides." They are not only killing the bugs, but they are also killing us.