Link the discussion of this topic to our discussion of risk assessment from earlier in the year.

Risks: are there really that many?

The Good

Disease Control

Use of Pesticides around the world is very good in controlling of diseases transmitted by insects.
The most famous disease transmitted by insects is Malaria

In the early 1950s more than 2 million cases of Malaria were reported in Sri Lanka each year. Due to the use of pesticides, this number dropped to almost zero.
The Pesticide used at the time was DDT, and despite it's many health problems, the Sri Lankan government continued to use DDT because of its great benefits in eliminating Malaria. Currently, they have stopped using DDT and gone on to more environmentally sound pesticides.

Crop Protection

Pesticides reduce the amount of crops that is lost by competition with weeeds, consumption by insects, and diseases caused by plant pathogens
Economically, pesticide usage lets farmers save an estimated $3-$5 in crops for every $1 that they invest in pesticides

The Bad

Genetic Resistance

Pests and plants develope genetic resistances to pesticides and herbicides.
In the 50 years pesticides have been in use, many pests have developed resistances to pesticides and some species such as the diamond back moths are resistant to all legal insecticides.

Killing of Organisms

One of the worst problems with pesticides are that they affect beneficial insects like bees.
They also kill larger organisms like various birds, due to direct contact with the pesticide or making them more vulnerable to disease or predation.
However Laboratory studies have at times overestimated negative impacts on birds due to toxicity, predicting serious problems that were not observed in the field. Most observed effects are due not to toxicity but to habitat changes and the decrease in abundance of species birds rely on for food or shelter

Bioaccumulation

Pesticides and herbicides accumulate as they go through the food chain.
More and more of the pesticide is accumulated, leading to the death of upper level organisms in the good chain.

Mobility in the Environment

Pesticides don't tend to go directly at their intended targets.
Usually, they wind up going to other places too like the air, soil, into water systems, and may even travel for long distances into other places.

Risks to Human Health

There are also human health risks due to pesticides however, most of the cases of pesticide poisoning are for farm workers who come in daily contact with pesticides.
In addition, some pesticide users don't use pesticides safely and are not trained in the safe handling and storage of pesticides which is why there are cases of pesticide deaths.
Long term affects of pesticides also include a correlation between pesticide exposure and Cancer, however, there is not enough data to link the two defiantly.
There have also been reports of birth defects in farmer children and sterility in farm workers. Pesticide companies have been sued for these cases and most have made settlements.

Final Conclusion: Although Pesticides are not the best solution to keeping our crops alive, it is the most economically feasible world-wide. The health and environmental risks associated with it can be improved upon with safer and stricter regulation.

Make a sales pitch for why we should use herbicides on large scale farms.

Use Herbicides!

Using Herbicides has many good benefits for the upcoming field.

As mentioned before, Herbicides make agricultural life for farmers much more feasible because it lets farmers save about $3-$5 in crops for every $1 they invest in pesticides.

In addition, at the current point in time, there are not enough other options to completely get rid of the use of herbicides on crops. Although there are indeed other alternatives, they may not be enough to cover all the bases.

The human health effects of Herbicides can be prevented with proper training in how to properly use herbicides without causing health effects. Safer herbicides can be used as well in place of more dangerous ones if there is a big concern over this.

By using herbicides, we prevent the loss of an extremely large amount of the crops due to the monoculture nature of our crops.

Bibliography

"At-home treatment of malaria in children proving to be ineffective." Children of Uganda . 24 Apr. 2009. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. <http://raggiemaser.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/at-home-treatment-of-malaria-in-children-proving-to-be-ineffective/>.

Image of Malaria transmitted by mosquitoes

"Herbicide -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbicide>.

provided detailed information about herbicides specifically

"KIMO International What We Do Our Action Areas Hazardous Substances." KIMO International Home page. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. <http://www.kimointernational.org/HazardousSubstances.aspx>.

Picture of pesticide sign

"Lecture 18." MSU Weed Ecology Group. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. <http://weedeco.msu.montana.edu/class/LRES443/Lectures/Lecture18/lecture_18.htm>.

Provided information about how pesticides are so mobile

"National Wildlife Research Centre - Herbicides and Risks to Ecosystems." Canadian Wildlife Service - Environment Canada / Service canadien de la faune - Environnement Canada. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. <http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/nwrc-cnrf/default.asp?lang=En&n=9CA0DB01-1>.

Provided information about how herbicides and insecticides were used.

Raven, Peter, and Linda Berg. Environment. 3rd ed. Orlando : Emily Barrosse, 2001. Print.

Provided nearly all the information needed for this assignment. Very useful.

Risks and Sales

Link the discussion of this topic to our discussion of risk assessment from earlier in the year.

Risks: are there really that many?

The Good

Disease Control

Use of Pesticides around the world is very good in controlling of diseases transmitted by insects.

The most famous disease transmitted by insects is Malaria

In the early 1950s more than 2 million cases of Malaria were reported in Sri Lanka each year. Due to the use of pesticides, this number dropped to almost zero.

The Pesticide used at the time was DDT, and despite it's many health problems, the Sri Lankan government continued to use DDT because of its great benefits in eliminating Malaria. Currently, they have stopped using DDT and gone on to more environmentally sound pesticides.

Crop Protection

Pesticides reduce the amount of crops that is lost by competition with weeeds, consumption by insects, and diseases caused by plant pathogens

Economically, pesticide usage lets farmers save an estimated $3-$5 in crops for every $1 that they invest in pesticides

The Bad

Genetic Resistance

Pests and plants develope genetic resistances to pesticides and herbicides.

In the 50 years pesticides have been in use, many pests have developed resistances to pesticides and some species such as the diamond back moths are resistant to all legal insecticides.

Killing of Organisms

One of the worst problems with pesticides are that they affect beneficial insects like bees.

They also kill larger organisms like various birds, due to direct contact with the pesticide or making them more vulnerable to disease or predation.

Bioaccumulation

Pesticides and herbicides accumulate as they go through the food chain.

More and more of the pesticide is accumulated, leading to the death of upper level organisms in the good chain.

Mobility in the Environment

Pesticides don't tend to go directly at their intended targets.

Usually, they wind up going to other places too like the air, soil, into water systems, and may even travel for long distances into other places.

Risks to Human Health

There are also human health risks due to pesticides however, most of the cases of pesticide poisoning are for farm workers who come in daily contact with pesticides.

In addition, some pesticide users don't use pesticides safely and are not trained in the safe handling and storage of pesticides which is why there are cases of pesticide deaths.

Long term affects of pesticides also include a correlation between pesticide exposure and Cancer, however, there is not enough data to link the two defiantly.

There have also been reports of birth defects in farmer children and sterility in farm workers. Pesticide companies have been sued for these cases and most have made settlements.

Final Conclusion: Although Pesticides are not the best solution to keeping our crops alive, it is the most economically feasible world-wide. The health and environmental risks associated with it can be improved upon with safer and stricter regulation.

Make a sales pitch for why we should use herbicides on large scale farms.

Use Herbicides!

Using Herbicides has many good benefits for the upcoming field.

As mentioned before, Herbicides make agricultural life for farmers much more feasible because it lets farmers save about $3-$5 in crops for every $1 they invest in pesticides.

In addition, at the current point in time, there are not enough other options to completely get rid of the use of herbicides on crops. Although there are indeed other alternatives, they may not be enough to cover all the bases.

The human health effects of Herbicides can be prevented with proper training in how to properly use herbicides without causing health effects. Safer herbicides can be used as well in place of more dangerous ones if there is a big concern over this.

By using herbicides, we prevent the loss of an extremely large amount of the crops due to the monoculture nature of our crops.