History of Pesticides

Ever since, a lot of pests, weeds and other biological organisms have created a lot of problems in human society. As a countermeasure, people have been using pesticides for thousands of years to try to control these pests. These pesticides are a mixture of chemical and biological substances used to diminish or keep away pests that damages the crops or affects human health. It usually disrupts some component of the life process of the pest to stop it from growing or killing it.

Conventionally, farmers only used substances that occurs in nature to their crops to act as repellant from pests. Some of the naturally-occurring substances that were used as pesticides are arsenic and pyrethrum. However, after the Second World War, there has been a prevalent used of pesticides all over the world. Some of the ingredients used in making synthetic pesticides were used to make biological weapons during the war. Pesticides have been popular because it increased the production of high quality crops as pesticides reduce the threats in the crops such as the pests. From 1950’s to present, the use of pesticides has blossomed and billions of pounds of pesticides were dispersed into the environment. Also, there has been a prevalence use of DDT as well as other chemicals that are harmful and have adverse effect to human health in urban communities to eradicate harmful insects like mosquitoes.

Pesticides become a component that is abundant in food post World War II. The significant increase in agricultural production for the last fifty years was attributed to the use of different types of pesticides. A lot of benefits are derived from the use of pesticides like the obliteration of insect-carrying diseases such as mosquitoes.

After the World War II, the pesticides became a component abundant food for the world. Also, the agricultural production in throughout the world has improved significantly during the past fifty years with the help of herbicides and insecticides. Lots of health benefits, such as the obliteration of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, were also foreseen and it was attained in many cases.

There has been a prevalent use of pesticides during the so-called Green Revolution, which occurred between 1943 until the late 1970s. Green Revolution is the time when there has been wide series of research, development and technological efforts incepted to the field of agriculture. Pesticides are widely used to prevent high level of pests in damaging the crops, especially in monocropping or planting a single type of crop over a large area.

But with all the benefits of the use pesticides, it has adverse side effects not just on humans but also in animals. During the massive use of pesticides, Rachel Carson, an American biologist, warned the people about the side effects of the use of pesticides through her book entitled, Silent Spring. Through her book, she raised a lot of questions about the real benefits of the use of pesticides as well as the risks of pesticides rendered in the environment and public health.

There are many ways on how humans are exposed to pesticides. The residues of pesticides are scattered everywhere: in the air we breathe, in the water we drink and in the food we eat. During the fifty years of the use of pesticides, the long term effects of numerous pesticides on human health numerous pesticides have never been thoroughly reviewed by people. Most known side effects of the pesticides are the damages pesticides pose to the various body systems such as the endocrine, nervous and immune systems. After the discovery of the side effects of pesticides due to its prevalent use, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) highly considered cancer as the main threat to human health caused by the use of pesticides. Recently, the notion that cancer is the most sensitive end point is being questioned.

It is also known that pesticides also have adverse effects on animals. EPA only reviewed the effects of pesticides to wildlife and environment on 1985. Fishing bans are incurred in lakes, rivers and bays upon the discovery of the residues of pesticides have also resulted in fishing bans in.

The pesticides used in agriculture have prevented most of the pest damage incurred to the crops. However, it has posed a new problem in agriculture. In using pesticides, lots of problems have arisen like the eradication of helpful insects and the evolution of pests who are resistant to pesticides. These problems decrease the effectiveness of the use of pesticides. As of today, a lot of species of insects, mites and fungi are no longer affected by the pesticides used in many industries. Due to the rising numbers of pesticide-resistant pests, the farmers needed an increase in doses of pesticides and more regular applications of it. Aside from that problem, lots of crops have been damaged due to the misuse pesticides.