The Truth Behind Pesticides

Sara Good-Chanmugam

Melissa Kiehl

William Mahoney

April 20, 2017

Abstract

The importance of understanding the nature of pesticides can not be overlooked. Because

pesticides are involved in almost every agricultural industry, individuals are exposed to pesticides

numerous times throughout the day. If this major component of our diet is in fact dangerous, it could

radically change the way humans cultivate food, and thus, change our life style. Through this paper, the

scientist hope to increase individuals knowledge of pesticides and food safety in general. This paper

will cover background information on pesticides, a survey used to ascertain knowledge of pesticides,

and the results of that survey. The survey revealed a limited knowledge of pesticides in the community,

and an especially limited amount of knowledge of alternative agricultural practices. A compilation of

all the research conducted through an internship will be the final product. The survey revealed the need

for more information on pesticides, and thus, the importance of this paper.
Review of Literature

The word, pesticide, evokes varying imagery for different groups. For some, depictions of a

chemical warfare raging against nature fill heads with grim forecasts for the future, yet for others,

pesticides are the manifestation of human ingenuity which have extended the capabilities of the earth

tremendously and increased agricultural yields substantially. How can such a widely used practice have

such different interpretations? A culmination of factors seems to contribute to this discrepancy

regarding the interpretation of pesticides and their effects on the natural world and human endeavors.

Conspiracies, corruption, and inconclusive testing are all attributed to the misconception surrounding

pesticides. There is no question that pesticides have extended the capabilities of humans, by permitting

us to live in more regions then ever before, have more children then ever before, and eat more than ever

before. Pesticides have revolutionized our interaction with food, by increasing the amount of food a

single yield can produce, by decreasing the amount of people who have to grow food, and by extending

the shelf life of various products as they are shipped thousands of miles to end up on our plate.

Pesticides, have no doubt, had positive effects. The question is, at what cost? What are we willing to

give up to maintain the current level of comfort, brought about by our current pesticide usage? How

much are we willing to sacrifice? How far will we go? These questions must be asked in order to

ascertain whether our current farming practices should be changed. It is for this reason that this paper

will not work to disprove the clear benefits of pesticides, but rather unearth a darker truth, one lined

with the corpses of endangered animals and the receipts of medicals bills. This truth will begin with a

brief explanation of the types of pesticides and application processes, and then present forth a scarier

truth. Pesticides used in agriculture have deleterious effects on the environment and human, rendering

them harmful and requiring immediate examination and discussion.

Before the negative effects of pesticides are explained, a basic background of pesticides should

be provided. There are seven main types of pesticides, insectivores, herbicides, Rodenticides,

Bactericides, Fungicides, and Larvicides. Each are used to treat a different type of organisms (Brimmer,
2016). There are a few factors that lead to inaccurate tests of pests. Systemic pest managements is the

use of pests that are able to permeate the plants roots and intertwine in the root and vascular system of

the plants. The chemicals are able to spread throughout the plants, and thus, no amount of washing can

remove all traces of pesticides. Only food that is considered children's food is test multiplet times,

thus, there is little data on foods like collard greens which has only been tested once or twice. The test

used to measure the dietary risk index (DRI) also must be interpreted with caution as it only measures a

single food serving and does not take into account any variations in consumption. The largest grievance

misconceptions brought forth by pesticides are rooted at a simple lack of testing of pesticides, due to a

lack funding. For example, most corn is sprayed with a variety of insecticides and herbicides, yet there

are no studies on the combined effects of pesticides. Inert ingredients could combine, and thus, unseen

effects may be seen soon soon (Benbrook, 2008). An important aspect of pesticides to understand is its

mode of action. Mode of action refers to the way the pesticides kills its target organism. There are two

types, contact pesticides, while kill the target by weakening the cell membranes (rapid death), and

systemic pesticides, which slow the body's processes and are injected (slow acting). The rate of

degradation of a pesticide is dependent on the type of chemical, weather, soil type, and formulation

(Spol Quality Conerns: Pesticides, 1998). If pesticides move offsite, they are considered pollutants.

The formulation of a pesticide describes the chemical and physical form the pesticide is sold in. The

active ingredient of the formula is the aspect able to directly effected a target pest. It also improves the

handling capabilities of the pesticides. There are variety of formulas, for example, wettable powders

and water-dispersible granules, each which have different effects on the persistence and pollution

ability (Socorro, 2016). Now that terms relating to pesticides and factors to effect data around

pesticides have been explained, the negative effects of pesticides can be explained.

Agricultural pesticides have damaging environmental effects. There are several factors that

effect the toxicology of pesticides, especially in water, one of which is persistence. The persistence of

pesticides is often expressed in half-lives, and pesticides can be degraded by sunlight, water
temperatures, and soil and moisture conditions. The first Water quality can be adversely affected by

pesticide contamination. There are four ways pesticides can reach the water. The first is floating away

from the application site, then leaching through the soil and contaminating ground water, the following

is as runoff which flows into a waterway, and the last is an accident spillage (Environmental effects of

pesticides, 2016). In a sample of all major rivers, around 90 percent of water contained pesticides, often

multiple types. The USGS (US Geological Survey) found that 19 our of 20 river basins studied had

pesticide levels higher than the safety level (Aktar, n.d.). Pesticide compounds were found in numerous

watersheds near agricultural, urban, and residential areas, and even once the pesticide (such as some

organocholorine pesticides) is banned, it can still be found in the water. Although streams are more

likely to suffer from pesticide contamination that groundwater, groundwater contamination must be

monitored closely, because the contamination is hard to fix once it occurs (Gillion, 2007).Groundwater

contamination is also a major problem. Detections of groundwater contamination occurred in 43 states.

Once the groundwater is contaminated, it can take years for it to be cleaned up naturally or by humans,

which is expensive (Aktar, n.d.). Perhaps one of the greatest incidence of pesticide contamination

occurred in the Greek Lakes. According to Dr. Ongley, an author and professor, pesticides have major

impacts on water quality and [can] lead to serious environmental consequences (Ongly, 1996).

Pesticides that have leached into these near by water systems can also kill of the shallow grasses

required for nursery areas, which not only threatens the future stability of marine organism's

population, but also can reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen needed for survival. In addition, many

plants and small aquatic organisms can be killed off by the pesticides, reducing the amount of animals

at lower trophic levels and threatening the survival of an entire food chain (Davis, 2009). The EPA sets

levels of acceptable pesticide amount in water. However, it is hypothesized that these levels should be

re-evaluated, as many of these levels were set when organochlorine compounds were used like DDT,

which could skew the toxicity measurement amounts (Gillion, 2007).

Furthermore, pesticides can also negatively effect air quality. During application of pesticides,
about fifteen to forty percent of them are spread into the air as pesticide drift. These pesticides can

travel through the air, affecting areas where pesticides are not used or used rarely. These pesticides

pollute the air, and once they are in the air can condense and return to the earth's surface as rain

(Socorro, 2016). Once pesticide matriculate into the soil, there can be dire consequences. Pesticides can

weaken non-target plant's immune and root systems, leaving them more susceptible to diseases and

death (Durand, 2016). Pesticides can also hinder the plants ability to fixate nitrogen, an essential

aspect of plant health (Environmental effects of pesticides, 2016). Soil is naturally able to sift and filter

pesticides to make them less harmful. However, the influx of pesticides has rendered the soil around

farms and other areas where pesticides are heavily used useless. Due to the inability of the soil to

neutralize the pesticides, they are easily able to enter surface and ground water, possibly endangering

aquatic ecosystems, making the reach of pesticides far greater then initially envisioned.

Pesticides also effect animals. Microorganisms near agricultural fields were found to have soil

residue about two or three times higher than that of organism nearby. Due to of bioaccumulation, more

pesticides are found in animals in higher trophic levels, somewhere between ten and hundred fold as

many as in those of lower trophic levels. Lots of microorganisms with soil cleaning ability are also

found to be affected by pesticides. These microorganisms, like decomposers and soil filtering

organisms, are very susceptible to these pesticides. Once they are killed off, he soil is the left dead and

the plants are unable to grow. Some organisms that are affected the most organism with complexes

systems that reside in the ground, like earthworms and battles These organisms are unable to function

with copious amounts of pesticides presents, and thus, die shortly after. Soil vertebrates are also

affected. These animals include snails and slugs, which were found to have very high amounts of

pesticides compared to the non-pesticide exposure (Levin, 1930). These organisms play crucial roles in

their ecosystems, and without them, the future of these habitats looks grim.

There are several diseases in animals that have been linked to pesticides. Three disease in

particular have had devastating effects and have incredibly damaging effects on the ecosystem. The
first disease, Chytrid Fungus, is responsible for the wide-spread die-offs of amphibians. The fungus

have threatened over 18,00 species of amphibians, many who are now endangered. Although the

disease has been chalked up to a numerous of other factors, many have begun to blame pesticides for

the damage. In a examination into California pesticide spraying, researchers found a strong correlation

between pesticides flowing up wind and amphibian die offs. The next disease examined is Colony

Collapse Disorder, which as destroyed 35% of the US honeybee population. Many bee keepers blame

Neonicotinoids, which are a highly powerful pesticide that stays in the ground and plant's systems for a

long time. This pesticide has already been banned in Germany, France, Italy, Slovenia, and many more.

The last is White-Nose Syndrome, which effects bats, who are especially vulnerable due to their small

bodies and long life spans. All those these disease are most likely due to a culmination of factors,

pesticides seem to play a key role (Shah, 2015).

Ambiances are able to absorb nutrients through their skins, and thus, are early indicators of

pollution in areas. Pesticides, especially atrazine, have had incredibly deleterious effects on

Zimbabweans, especially frogs. In one study, Atrazine was found to be capable of emasculating frogs,

turning three quarters of male frogs into females. These frogs are basically dead, as only about ten

percent of them are able to reproduce. Even so, these frogs are only able to have male offsprings,

because it is essentially two male frogs mating and thus, they are unable to provide female genetics.

This causes an extremely uneven sex ratio of anywhere between 10 to 5 percent female. The

experiment was conducted on the African clawed frog, but similar effects are likely to occur in other

species and from other pesticides. Hayes, a researcher at UC Berkeley, claimed that sex reversal is

more damaging to frog then simply killing them, as it seems like the population is growing, but in fact,

it is slowly being killed off. More research suggests that frogs are not the only target of Atrazine.

Similar endocrine disrupting effects have shown up in fish, other amphibians, birds, reptiles, rodents,

and there have been some studies that suggest humans could be susceptible due to mutations causes a

the cellular level (Sanders, 2010). The case of frogs and Atrazine is not a singular incident, and while
other effects may not be clear yet, how long are we going to wait? Perhaps the environmental effects

alone are not enough to mobilize citizens against the heavy usage of pesticides, but maybe the effects

on human health will.

The effects of pesticides on the human body are immeasurable and incredibly detrimental. Lots

of produce still contains particulates of pesticides. A sample of 9700 different food items which were

sprayed with pesticides showed 5.2 percent of them contained pesticide residue.There are about 1

million deaths and chronic diseases formed by pesticide poisonings (Aktar, n.d.). These effects are

minuscule in comparison to the long term effects pesticides can have. Endocrine disrupters, a certain

breed of pesticides, act by mimicking the body's natural systems ad in the long term, can lead to

immune system depression and reproductive abnormalities. A study done in india on pesticide

manufacturers showed that there were neurological issues related to pesticide exposure (Aktar, n.d.).

Some studies suggest that atrazine can cause a compromised immune system, leading to bacterial

diseases and eventually death (Sanders, 2010). Exposure to pesticides in the long term can result in

nuerodegenerative and nerirodevelopmental effects, and mild cognitive dysfunction. Several studies

have been conducted on the effects of pesticides on mental health. A correlation was found between

depression, suicide, and death due to mental illness, especially neuro degenerative diseases in women.

The results of the aforementioned studied were found by comparing a group of people who were

exposed to pesticides via a spray-plane drift and those who were not (Kerr, 2015). Unfortunately, there

are too many factors to consider when testing the effect of something on human health, and since a

controlled experiment is not an option, the true effects of pesticides on human healthy may never be

understood. Much research has been invested into finding out the effects of pesticides on children.

Reproductive organs were heavily studied, due to the concern of pesticides on children and developing

fetuses. Fifteen studies from nine countries examined associations between pesticides and birth defects,

which all showed increase risk of birth defects due to pesticide exposure including heart, nervous

system, and eye defects (Kerrr, 2015).Much research has been invested into figuring out the effects of
pesticides on children. Because children and infants are still growing and developing, they have a

different metabolism and, thus, their ability to detoxify their bodies from compounds is different.

Furthermore, because they are so much smaller then full grown people, the same amount of pesticides

is a larger percent of their body, which makes the effects more drastic. Often times, the children who

are at the most risk is minorities and children of a lower socio-economic status. While air pollution,

water pollution, and soil are also causes of child and pesticide encounters, the article states that perhaps

the main source of of pesticide exposure is diet. Early in life pesticide exposure could result in a a slew

of illnesses and other chronic problems (Pesticide exposure in children, 2012). Some issues include

decreased cognitive function and behavioral issues. One study conducted by Harvard and the

University of Montreal found that children exposed to pesticides have higher rates of developing

ADHD (attention Deficit hyperactivity disorder). Several studies have been conducted in the past

showing a relationship between these two; however, most of them have used children whose parents

are in the agricultural field, thus, the sample is not representative of the population (Maugh, 2010).

Pesticide exposure can increase an individuals likeliness of developing asthma and has been linked to

asthma. Prenatal exposure to pesticides increases the likely hood of a child developing asthma, even id

there is no family history (Pesticide-induced diseases, 2015). The effects of pesticides on a developing

fetus are low birth weight, pre-term birth, and congenital abnormalities, and other chronic diseases like

cancer and other neurologic diseases (Roberts, 2012). Exposure to lower-then-previously-thought

levels of atrazine correlates to birth defects, low birth weights, and menstrual issues. In an experiment

testing the effects of Atrazine on lab rats, some experienced delayed puberty and their mammary

glands change in way that could make them more vulnerable to cancer later in life. Possible

correlations between Atrazine exposure and developing human embryos shows that the chemical could

effect humans causing low birth weight and other defects. Some studies suggest that atrazine can cause

a compromised immune system, leading to bacterial diseases and eventually death (Sanders, 2011).

Perhaps the most well -studied effect of pesticides is on the development of cancer. meta-
analysis conducted reviewing 104 reports created anywhere between 1992 to 2007 on the effects of

pesticide exposure on the development of the following solid tumor cancers; non-Hodgkin lymphoma,

leukemia, brain, breast, kidney, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, and stomach cancer. Two

independent reviewers evaluated each study, eliminating any that did not have substantial evidence or

bias. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma subjects were usually white males who worked with pesticides such as

farmers and landscapers. 10 out of the 12 studies were statistically significant. The leukemia studies, on

one of which tested commonly used weed-killers and carbonate, and insecticide, all showed a positive

correlation between exposure to pesticides and risk of cancer. Brain cancer a well showed an increased

risk. Breast cancer had an increased risk as well even with individuals who reported they had used

protective clothing while applying pesticides. One study concluded that exposure to pesticides for more

than four hours daily for at least 10 years increased risk of benign breast disease. The studies on kidney

cancer were particularly interesting, as they showed there was an increased likely hood of not only the

exposed populations developing cancer, but the exposed population's children as well. Pancreatic

cancer, prostate, and stomach cancer all had positive correlations as well (Bassil, 2007). Individuals

who live near agricultural fields were more likely to develop cancer as well (Cimino, n.d.). Pesticides

hurt humans.

Pesticides have injurious impacts on nature and the heath of individuals. Pesticides affect nature

in three main ways. Due to runoff and permutations, pesticides are able to pollute ground and surface

water. Once the pesticides are in these systems, they can harm aquatic animals, which are then preyed

upon by terrestrial and areil animals, who also are impacted. Pesticides also effect air quality. Once in

the air, these pesticides can persist for long periods of time, making clean up and damage control

incredibly difficult to pursue. Amphibians, usually indicators of pollution, are incredibly sensitive to

the matriculation of pesticides into their ecosystems, and thus, the entire family is greatly affected.

Perhaps the greatest impact of pesticides to examine is the effect on human health. Pesticide poisoning

affects mostly agricultural workers, but these affects can also be seen in others. The symptoms can
range from nausea and dizziness to vision troubles and stomach issues. There are a variety of diseases

that have been linked to pesticide usage, including asthma and other respiratory issues. Links between

pesticides exposure and cancer have also been well developed. Pesticides have the greatest effect on

children, due to their smaller and less-developed immune systems. These effects can range, but some

sources claim correlations between pesticides and ADHD, developmental disorders, and learning

disabilities. These negative effects of pesticides make is necessary to serious consider using an

Integrated Pest Management model, which uses information on different pests to find the best tactic to

kill them. We must reinvent our use of pesticides, as the environment and human health are at stake.

Research Methods and Data Collection

 A survey was created which ascertained the general knowledge of pesticides. It also hoped to

determine a correlation between race, socio-economic status, and knowledge of pesticides. The survey

had seven questions, three pertaining to the participants background, and four about knowledge of

pesticides. The survey was released via the researchers social media, as to target the most wide range of

individuals who live around the Maryland area. The social media platforms used were Twitter,

Instagram, and Facebook. The survey was created using google forms, so all answers were immediately

cataloged and digitalized. The survey was sent out three time in a week for two weeks, and received

around 60 responses. Each survey participant answered the questions using a phone, computer, or other

digital device. The data was analyzed using graphical representations of the answers. A graph was

created comparing the amount of pesticides eaten and knowledge of pesticides.

Results and Data Analysis

The data collected applied to the questions about the negative effects of pesticides. It was

hypothesized that pesticide negativity effect the environment and human health. The survey (see

apendix) hoped to ascertain the general knowledge of pesticides, and their effects on the environments

and human health (specifically air quality and water quality for the environmental impacts). The results

of show that there is little knowledge of pesticides impact on air and water quality. Most individuals

(76.6%) do believe that pesticides negatively impact air and water quality. Individuals who ate

organically more than 11 times were more likely to respond yes to the questions asked in figure 1 and

2.
Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Discussion and Conclusions

The findings helped confirmed the knowledge of the impacts of pesticides. Although the

percentage of people who believed pesticides deceased air quality and water quality was the same and

high, it still wasn't one hundred percent. The finding help confirm the need for more information and

education on and about pesticides. Furthermore, the amount of individual who knew what integrated

pest management is was incredibly low. This shows that there is a need for more information on
alternativce strategies of pesticide usage. Often times, information on the negative efffects alone only

deters individuals from changing their ways, as the problem seems too overwhelming. However, when

information on solutions is also presented, people may feel more inclined to change their ways and

invest in other situations. This research also showed the public perception of pesticides, that, on

average, people view them as negative with negative impacts on water quality. The survey showed

readers that it is important to keep individuals informed about pesticides and other alternatives to

pesticde usage. There were some limitations to the study. Because it was released via the scientist's

social media, mostly young adults and teenagers answered. Furthermore, many individuals didn't know

the socio-economic status of their parents or the amount of times they ate pesticdes in a week.
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Appendix

Copy of Survey

Pesticides
Please aim to complete this survey in the presence of one's parents or guardians to ensure answers are

as accurate as possible. The results of the survey will be used for the data analysis section of my

research paper on the effects of pesticides.The paper is part of the Intern Mentor Class.