Pesticides | Do you think pesticides should be banned? Why or Why not? Write an opinion essay.

Pesticides are used to kill insects on fruits and vegetables. However, research shows that they can be harmful to people and the environment. Do you think pesticides should be banned? Why or why not?

Pesticides are chemical compounds that are used to kill pests, including insects, rodents, fungi and unwanted plants (weeds). The term pesticide covers a wide range of compounds including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, rodenticides, molluscicides, nemati-cides, plant growth regulators and others. The introduction of other synthetic insecticides and the introduction of herbicides and fungicides contributed greatly to pest control and agricultural output. Ideally a pesticide must be lethal to the targeted pests, but not to non targeted species, including man. The rampant use of these chemicals, under the adage, "if little is good, a lot more will be better" has played havoc with human and 
other life forms.

The primary benefits are the consequences of the pesticides' effects - the direct gains expected from their use. It follows that for secondary benefits it is therefore more difficult to establish cause and effect, but nevertheless they can be powerful justifications for pesticides use. There are various benefits identified, ranging from fitter people to conserved biodiversity. Tremendous benefits have been derived from the use of pesticides in forestry, public health and the domestic sphere-and, of course, in agriculture, a sector upon which the economy largely dependent. Food grain production has increased. This result has been achieved by the use of high-yield varieties of seeds, advanced irrigation technologies and agricultural chemicals similarly outputs and productivity have increased dramatically in most countries. Increases in productivity have been due to several factors including use of fertilisers, better varieties and use of machinery. Pesticides have been an integral part of the process by reducing losses from the weeds, diseases and insect pests that can markedly reduce the amount of harvestable produce. But we should pay attention to the spectacular increases in crop yields because it is stated that "considerable economic losses" would be suffered without pesticide use and quantified the significant increases in yield and economic margin that result from pesticide use.

Moreover, in environment most pesticides undergo photochemical transformation to produce metabolites which are relatively non-toxic to both human beings and the environment. If the credits of pesticides include enhanced economic potential in terms of increased production of food and fibre, and amelioration of vector-borne diseases, then their debits have resulted in serious health implications to human beings and it's environments. There is now vast evidence that some of these chemicals do pose a potential risk to human beings and other life forms and unwanted side effects to the environment. No segment of the population is completely protected against exposure to pesticides and the potentially serious health effects, though a disproportionate burden is shouldered by the people of developing countries and by high risk groups in each country. The world-wide death and chronic diseases are due to pesticide poisoning number about one million per year.

The high risk groups exposed to pesticides include production workers, sprayers, mixers, loaders and agricultural farm workers. During manufacture and formulations, the possibility of hazards may be higher because the processes involved are not risk free. In industrial settings, workers are at increased risk since they handle various toxic chemicals including pesticides, raw materials, toxic solvents, and inert carriers. OC compounds could pollute the tissues of virtually every life formed on the earth, the air, the lakes, and the oceans, the fishes that live in them and the birds that feed on the fishes.