Pesticides and their impacts on environment

Pesticides are the chemicals which are used to eradicate the pests which cause the losses to man directly or indirectly.

Pesticides and their impacts on environmentThese pesticides include weedicides, insecticides, fungicides etc. These toxic substances are used to kill all kind of man competitors as fungi, viruses, rodents, weeds, bacteria etc. They are beneficial, but they have many hazardous effects on living organisms as well. Such substances are not killing the pests only, but also deteriorating our environment. Due to their fatal chemistry some pesticides have been banned and, now they are not available in the market.

Benefits:

  1. They protect the crops by reducing or suppressing the pest population.
  2. Avoid from vector borne diseases.
  3. They also preserve food and other items.                                           

Impacts on the Environment:

When pesticides are applied on the crops, they are not totally taken by the crops. Sometimes, it might be possible that they are wasted due to poor management conditions. These are leached underground with the water that we drink. Consequently, they cause severe health conditions. They have many horrible cases, some are given below:

  1. Pesticides and Biodiversity:

The pesticides are bringing many changes in biodiversity. Heavy use of these causing several adverse effects on our natural ecosystem. The migration of many animal species has been uplifted because of enormous use of these poisonous chemicals. They have various negative impacts on the bio-control agents, they are also reducing the number of natural enemies.

      2.  Water Quality:

Water contamination is a common phenomenon carried out by the pesticides. During their application a little mishandling of the spray or spraying equipment may lead to many threats. When they are directly sprayed on standing water it is transported to the underground water with the passage of time. This water is consumed by many living organisms, ultimately these living organisms become a prey of terrible diseases. But, sometimes when these are used on crops in bulk, they also flow in nearby water sources. Many animals drink water from these water storage structures and consequences are deadly.

     3. Soil Deterioration:

When pesticides are a sprayed on crops, they may persist by many ways and become a part of soil. On the other hand, some are directly applied in the soil to reduce and minimize the effects of soil-borne diseases and some pests which hibernate in the soil. These attach with the soil particles. Soil particles are source of many nutrients which enhance the soil fertility and crop growth increases. they make the organic matter less mobile due to which its availability to crops reduces.

      4. Effects on Human Health:

Now-a-days, we are using pesticides on every crop. Even, wheat which is one of the most edible crop is not safe from pesticides. When we use pesticides on crops their residues are left behind on the crops. When we eat such crops our health is affected badly. These pesticides are also very fatal for the children, because these chemicals are also used in many parks, playgrounds and schools too. Pesticide also persist in air which affect children very dangerously. Furthermore, presence of pesticides residues on crops may cause a big loss in international market.

By Amir Shehzad

My name is Amir Shehzad. I have recently done my graduation. I belong to district Nankana Sahib.