Pesticides include insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and any other materials that are intended to kill or otherwise harm living organisms. Pesticides are not only bad for weeds, pests or fungi, but also poison humans and animals. Some legal pesticides are even known to cause cancer in high doses. Even if you do not come into direct contact with a pesticide, it can still find its way into your body; there is pesticide residue on most of the food that we eat (unless it is organic) and most of the water that we drink.
The only way to reduce our exposure to pesticides is to stop using them wherever we can. There are lots of ways to control pests without pesticides, and the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides has answers for specific pest problems. By fine-tuning your garden or lawn to your environment (i.e. with native plants), you can minimize the need for pesticides in the first place. Some complementary plants can actually serve as natural pest repellents for other species, so ask someone at your local nursery for their recommendations. And remember that not all “pests” are bad—dandelions, for instance, can be beneficial to your backyard ecosystem—so weigh both sides before trying to eliminate them.
Did you know that according to the EPA, pesticide sales total over $2 billion a year?
If you are
already shocked at how much damage pesticides are doing to your health and the environment, consider how much money pesticide
companies are making off of all the damage being caused! Save your money and stop buying pesticides.
Did you know that over 30,000 pet poisonings related to pesticides are reported to the American Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASCPA) every year?
Being smaller than humans, pets and other animals
are more susceptible to poisoning by small doses of toxins, such as pesticides in the garden. Pesticide use has also been
linked to increased rate of cancer in pets, according to the ASCPA.
Did you know that pesticides
have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and nerve system damage in humans?
Pesticides have been
linked to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, while exposure to insecticides has been associated with leukemia, multiple myeloma, and
brain cancer. Numbers of low birth-weight babies in southern Iowa and breast cancer cases in Kentucky were especially high in
areas with pesticide-contaminated water.
Did you know that pesticide use puts children at a much
greater risk for poisoning than adults?
According to the EPA, because children have a much smaller body
mass and are still developing, they can suffer poisoning from a much smaller dose of any toxin – such as a pesticide
– than the average adult.
Did you know that found that over 95% of river and stream samples, as well as over 50% of well samples contain at
least one pesticide?
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, most of our water sources are now
contaminated with pesticides. This is a health risk for fish, birds and other animals as well as humans.
SOURCES :
1.Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides. “Do Pesticides Contaminate Our Rivers, Streams, and Wells?” Journal of Pesticide Reform. Summer 1999: Vol. 19, No. 2. Available from: http://www.pesticide.org/BasicWater.pdf [9 July 2008].
2.Cox, Caroline. “Ten Reasons Not to Use Pesticides.” Journal of Pesticide Reform. Summer 2006: Vol. 26, No. 2. Available from: http://www.pesticide.org/tenreasons.pdf [9 July 2008].
3.Alavanja, M. C. R. et al. [2004]. Pesticides and lung cancer in the Agricultural Health Study cohort. Am. J. Epidemiol. 160:876-885. Available from: http://www.aghealth.org/publications.html [9 July 2008].
4.Gilliom, R. J. et al. [2006]. The quality of our nation’s waters—Pesticides in the nation’s streams and ground water, 1992–2001: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1291.
