9 Foremost Pros and Cons of Pesticides

Over the years, many admirations and criticisms have been made about pesticides. This is due perhaps to their very nature of running the risk of being harmful to animals, the environment and humans. At the same time, they are made for killing and so many have been so much skeptical regarding their frequent use.

Nevertheless, the use of pesticides is likewise useful to the society. For instance, they were designed to bring about destruction to harmful organisms. Also, they can help control weeds, insects and other pests. For this reason, they are able to provide help to farmers and crop growers, having a huge role for the economy.

Although there are many benefits using pesticides, many have also been doubtful about the use of certain types of chemicals. However, manufacturers were able to address this issue as they have designed biologically-based pesticides like microbial pesticides and pheromones. Accordingly, these pesticides have become highly popular and safer compared to traditional chemical-based pesticides. Part of this, the Environmental Protection Agency also registered some reduced-risk pesticides.

Pesticides function to destroy, prevent, repel or mitigate any type of pest. However, pests are living organisms in which the result will cause damage to animals, crops, and humans as well. Hence, there will always be debates that surround pesticides. In order to resolve this dilemma, it might just be helpful to introduce some pros and cons of pesticides to enlighten those who are confused about the current issue.

List of Pros of Pesticides

1. Provides Control to Harmful Organisms
One of the reasons why pesticides have been made is that it can be used to kill mosquitoes, which can be carriers of fatal diseases like yellow fever, malaria, and West Nile virus. As far as prevention to diseases is concerned, this is what pesticides are for, which is intended to prevent pests from infecting humans.

On the same note, some pests may cause allergies to certain people. The impact of the reaction to such allergies may also vary from one person to another. The use of some pesticides intended for the relief of infections should reduce the effect of such allergies.

Household animals are also protected by pesticides from certain parasites such as fleas that keep making life hard for them. Thus, it is important to shield animals from these discomforts with the use of pesticides relieving them and giving them the opportunity to reduce any chances of getting infected again.

2. Readily Available
There is no need to consult specialists when it comes to buying pesticides. So, whether you want to purchase pesticides to rid your pets of fleas or simply rid your vegetation of weeds, you can always find them readily available at your local store. This is because pesticides are designed to provide immediate relief from pests to those who need them.

3. Helpful to Farmers
A group of researchers found that crop yields tend to reduce by ten percent when pesticides are not used in a farm. With threats of climate change, it is so difficult for farmers to grow their crops. Adding factors like weeds and insects to such a dilemma will simply make crop businesses fail. Even as they will be able to manage the growth of their crops, it will still be hard to deal when pests will tend to take away the hard-earned fruits of their labor.

4. Lower Food Costs
When losses hit farmers, they often count the cost of their losses and charge them to the overall price of some food they sell in the market. Accordingly, they are able to transfer the cost down to the buyer. So if farmers use pesticides, they will less likely acquire losses, so they will be able to cut off on losses.

List of Cons of Pesticides

1. Affect Human Health
Exposure of humans to pesticides can have acute and delayed impact. Thus, various health effects have been observed from simple skin or eye irritation to more severe infection to the nervous system or hormones leading to various fatal conditions.

Likewise, although there were limited evidences regarding negative results of pesticides leading to fetal deaths or birth defects, some reviews found that there were positive associations of diseases to pesticide exposure.

2. Environmental Impact
There is a huge possibility that pesticides will not reach their target most of the time. In fact, it was found that over 98% of sprayed insecticides while 95% of herbicides do not hit intended targets. For this reason, unintended targets such as air, soil, and water get hit instead. This is referred to as pesticide drift in which air carries the said pesticides to certain areas that results to contamination. In fact, it has been found that pesticides have been linked to the leading causes of water pollution.

3. Not Suitable for Children
Obviously, it is not advisable to use pesticides in areas where children will be likely playing or frequenting. One good reason is that their vital organs are just beginning to develop. Thus, they are capable of breathing in more of the pesticides as they inhale air a bit faster than adults do. At the same time, they are more prone to inhalation of such chemicals as they are closer to the ground.

4. Access to Pesticides Is Not Always a Good Idea
Accordingly, pesticides are also referred to as poison to insects, pests, and animals like dogs, cats or humans. Thus, when a person goes to the store to buy a particular form of pesticide, it can be used for any reason other than what they are intended for. In fact, around seven people in America have died each year due to poisoning that is associated with pesticides.

5. Builds Resistance
Similar to other living organisms, pests are likely to build up resistance to chemicals used in pesticides. Hence, you tend to use more and more each time in order to deal with such problems of immunity. As a result, it will end up doing more harm than good as it will be able to accumulate more harmful effects.