The environment is everything that surrounds us. It involves not only the natural elements that the word “environment” entails but also people and the man-made components of the world. Nor is the environment restricted to the outside, it also involves the indoor sections in which we live and work. The environment, therefore, is much more than simply the ozone layer and the ocean. It is the soil, air, water, lands, animals, houses, restaurants factories and all that they contain. Anyone who uses pesticides indoors or outdoors, in a city or a country, needs to consider the way that pesticide affects the environment. Pesticides have the possibility of harming all types of environments in case they are not used appropriately. Pesticide product labeling sacraments have the purpose of alerting people to particular environmental concerns that a pesticide product poses.
Lack of particular precautionary statements does not necessarily mean that the product poses no hazard to the environment. Both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the public are increasingly becoming informed of the upsetting effects on the atmosphere from the pesticides. As a result, EPA is taking close consideration of environmental effects. In addition to openly poising our surroundings and our food, pesticide presents a great serious threat to production of food system itself. From one viewpoint, pesticides are phenomenon chemicals that have boosted food increasing by 20 percent since 1940 by overcoming pest destruction. Yet, over the corresponding period, they have further created at least 271 strains insect species, sixty-seven plant strains pathogens, nematodes in two strains (parasitic worms) and weed plantations four that they cannot kill. While insecticide application has greater than before tenfold since the 1940s, environmental losses are doubled (Levine, 2007).
Soil contamination
Pesticides penetrate the soil through spray drift when foliage treatment is taking place, wash-off from treated foliage, granular release or from seeds that are treated in the soil. Often depending mostly on their persistence and water solubility and in soil permeability, pesticides can leach through the soil and reach groundwater or are carried with the runoff water to surface water. Pesticides applied to plants or harmful organism living in soil may move down the soil column, where they would be bound by the latticework of clay minerals or absorbed on to other organisms (Amalin et al., 2009). They may additionally accompany the soil water or the gas point in the interstitial space if the active inherent are suitable volatility. Surface water can additionally be contaminated directly by pesticides by the drift caused by applying pesticides. To avoid these effects, it is necessary to limit the application of pesticide on the soil ground because their effects on the environment directly affect both living organism in the soil and us, human beings.
Water contamination
Pesticides contaminate water through entering into a drift in the process of pesticide spraying, through and off from treatment places, or leaching the soil. Lawns and gardens treated with fertilizers, and pesticides can be a significance source of surface water contamination when the chemicals utilized in running off into neighboring water bodies. When pesticide residue contaminates water, they kill small plants and animals at the bottom of the food chain as well as damaging some fishes spices. Homeowners may unintentionally contaminate their good water by using practices on their lawns. Factors which affect a pesticide potential to contaminate water include chemical and physical factors, ecological factors, application techniques and other methods correlated with the pesticide application. Only two of the top five law care pesticides, 2, 4-D, and glyphosate are regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, in spite of governmental recognition of the concentration of the consequences of their discharge on the environment and their possibility to leach into underground water supplies (Baker, 2002)
Effects on organisms
Even when used as directed, pesticides can kill non-targeted organisms such as beneficial insects, desired plants, birds and other wildlife, along with their target pests. Because most pesticides work by interfering with psychological processes shared by most organisms, they can kill immediately. Crashes in honeybee populations damage to wild plant life, insects and bird die-offs have all been linked to herbicides and insecticide use. Of the frequently used lawn pesticides, carcinogens nineteen, thirteen are associated to birth defects, twenty-one are linked to reproductive influences, fifteen are a neurotoxin, twenty-six may cause liver or gently damage and twenty-seven are irritants and even can disrupt the hormone. Pets to are regularly poisoned. A report by Toxic Action Centre uncovered that more than 40 percent chemicals in ChemLawn’s product arrange contain ingredients banned in other countries (Evans & Rypstra, 2010). All of the products in their lineup pose a threat not only to human health but aquatic animals as well.
Water organisms
Apart from having ill-effects on the aquatic organism, the systematic eco transfer of pesticides residues may also pose a serious problem. Microorganism forms a vital part of the fresh water environment. An adjustment in the bacteria mortality, aquatic, fungi, amphibians, algae, reptiles, invertebrates, or fish will disturb the food webs which exist between them and therefore displease the environment in operation there. The fact that many pesticidescontemplate in the tissues of an aquatic organism or willingly than in terrestrial life forms exacerbates these problems (Wright & Boorse, 2013). Of most distress is the influence on some fish population through such toxic waste either by direct poison or ultimately because of a reduction of their traditional quarry. The existence of pesticides in ground water can have sub-lethal impacts on water animals. The raise of temperature of water because of the presence of pesticide, or the chemical entry into the fish brain or nervous system, can impact their behaviors and reproductive capacity.
Birds
Pesticides, particularly some chlorinated organic, have been blamed as the cause of reproductive failure among certain birds of prey. These effects, perhaps more than any other single factor aroused public concern over the indiscriminate use of pesticides. While acknowledging that some bird populations have been, at least momentarily, adversely affect the unwise use of pesticides, others have often mentioned that some of the reports of declining bird populations are not borne out by bird census data and that in other cases population declines might have been caused by human harassment. The allegations made against pesticides are based both on field studies and on laboratory experiments that involved controlled feeding of pesticides to birds. The former have been concerned mainly with the first of the effects as mentioned earlier and have attempted to show whether or not significant correlations existed between pesticide residue in bird eggs and egg eight or shell thickness. The latter experiments have tended to be wider in scope and have included studies of pesticide effects on some eggs laid by different birds.
Effects of pesticides and farming practices on biodiversity
Modern intensive agricultural methods entail usage of large quantities of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, many of which are toxic to our body. By nature’s pesticides are chemicals that have the ability to kill organisms. Aerial sprays for instance directly pollute the environment. The fungicides and pesticides can affect large areas of the country, carried by weather fronts. Multiple deformities in wild animals including bony defects, animal development or organs, and premature deaths have been observed (Geiger et al., 2010). These chemicals can also cause diseases and reaction to humans. Furthermore, these chemicals get into the tour food chain and our water supply. Many of these are not completely removed before we consume our food or drink our water. Excessive use of synthetic fertilizers, in the long run, makes the soil saline. Leaching of these fertilizers into water bodies lead to eutrophication. Pesticides have determinable effects on our health and also on the health of many other species. Such intensive forms of agriculture that depend heavily on chemicals like fertilizers and pesticides cause great harm onto the soil. In the long run, the soil loses its fertility
In conclusion, there are alternative ways of agriculture and animal husbandry which would greatly enhance the quality of our food without causing environmental contamination and damage. By definition, organic means produced without the use of pesticides, artificial fertilizers or synthetic chemical. Whenever possible, organic food would be much preferable to food produced from using large amounts of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Even though these may be more costly in price, it is well worth paying for our health.
References
Amalin, D. M., Peña, J. E., Duncan, R., Leavengood, J., & Koptur, S. U. Z. A. N. N. E. (2009). Effects of pesticides on the arthropod community in the agricultural areas near the Everglades National Park. In Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc (Vol. 122, pp. 429-437).
Baker, B. P., Benbrook, C. M., III, E. G., & Benbrook, K. L. (2002). Pesticide residues in conventional, integrated pest management (IPM)-grown and organic foods: insights from three US data sets. Food Additives & Contaminants, 19(5), 427-446.
Evans, S. C., Shaw, E. M., & Rypstra, A. L. (2010). Exposure to a glyphosate-based herbicide affects agrobiont predatory arthropod behaviour and long-term survival. Ecotoxicology, 19(7), 1249-1257.
Levine, M. J. (2007). Pesticides: a toxic time bomb in our midst. Greenwood Publishing Group.
Wright, R. T & Boorse, Dorothy. F (2013). Environmental science: toward a sustainable future, 12.
Geiger, F., Bengtsson, J., Berendse, F., Weisser, W. W., Emmerson, M., Morales, M. B., & Eggers, S. (2010). Persistent negative effects of pesticides on biodiversity and biological control potential on European farmland. Basic and Applied Ecology, 11(2), 97-105.
