THE IMPACT OF CHEMICAL INSECTICIDES IN AGRICULTURE

THE IMPACT OF CHEMICAL INSECTICIDES IN AGRICULTURE

Pesticides can be toxic to humans and lower animals. It can take a small amount of some toxins to kill. And other toxins that are slower acting, may take a long time to cause harm to the human body.
Pesticide production can be dangerous, too. One disaster at a pesticide manufacturing plant was in Bhopal, India. The plant accidentally released 40 tons of an intermediate chemical gas, methyl isocyanate, used to produce some pesticides. In that disaster, nearly 3,000 people were killed immediately, overall approximately 15,000 deaths occurred. Today nearly 100,000 people suffer from mild to severe permanent damage as a result of that disaster.
Children seem to be greatly susceptible to the toxic effects of pesticides. The Natural Resource Defense Council has collected data which recorded higher incidence of childhood leukemia, brain cancer and birth defects. These results correlated with early exposure to pesticides.
Even just using pesticides in amounts within regulation, studies have revealed neurotoxins can do serious damage during development. Researchers report the dangers of pesticides can start as early as fetal stages of life. The Pesticides entry at Wikipedia.org lists some of the results that have been recorded in recent years including:

• Fetuses, (pre-birth babies), may suffer from exposure and exhibit behavioral problems, growth issues
• Lower cognitive scores, fewer nerve cells and lower birth weight
• A lower resistance to the toxic effects of pesticides
• A greater risk (70% increase), for Parkinson’s disease, even with low levels of pesticides

Can you believe the government approved the use of some organophosphates despite the occurrence of illnesses? It makes you wonder just who the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working to protect.
What you also need to understand is that toxins from pesticides can remain in the body and build up in the liver. And, even at “safe” levels your reactions can be mild to severe. High levels of exposure can be fatal. How do you know if you’re going to be ill? You don’t; you just have to hope for the best. How will you be affected? Well, you don’t really know how you body will react to the toxins until it happens. Several factors determine how your body will react including your level of exposure, the type of chemical you ingest, and your individual resistance to the chemicals. Some people are unaffected or are mildly affected, while others become severely ill from similar levels of exposure. Some possible reactions are:

Fatigue Fatigue Skin Irritations Nausea Vomiting Breathing Problems

Brain Disorders Blood Disorders Liver & Kidney Damage Reproductive Damage Cancer Death  Save The Nature  Youtube