Kory Bassett

Malachi Vasquez

Jaimy Tuttle

English 1010-21

4/26/17

Pesticides Killing More Than Pests

Over the past 75 years pesticides have become a popular way for science to keep nature in check.

Altering the way that it interacts with other substances. Whether it be your common herbicide or

something used in the development of cosmetics. They affect humanity and our environment

equally but still big companies feel that the benefits (money) overpower the downsides that come

along with this. Recent studies have been conducted talking about the consequences of using

these destroyers of life. Even if we dont bring up the fact that it is shredding away our

ecosystem there are blatant determinants towards us all through the use of these chemicals. I

hope to bring some insight on the subject in this Persuasive Research essay. Lets get in-depth

into the reasoning of why the use of Pesticides needs to be banned.

Researchers at UCLA announced in April 2009 that they had discovered a link between

Parkinson's disease and two chemicals commonly sprayed on crops to keep away insects.

(http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/pesticide-exposure-found-to-increase-89084)

The interesting thing about this study is that it did not examine the farmers who were in direct

contact with the pesticides but rather people who simply lived near the farm fields that were

sprayed with the chemicals. The focal point of their research was on the fungicide known as

maneb and the herbicide paraquat. They found that the risk for Parkinsons disease for these

people increased by 75 percent.

 With this impressive results the researchers were urged to conduct a follow-up study

which resulted in some interesting new information to add onto the discovered information in the

last study. For the first time they have implicated a third pesticide, ziram, in the pathology of

Parkinsons disease. (Mark Wheeler Para 3) Second, instead of just looking at whether people

lived near the fields that were sprayed directly, they looked at where people worked, excluding

the farm lands. This found that the combined exposure to ziram, maneb and paraquat near any

workplace increased the risk of Parkinsons disease by threefold, though that number is extreme

it's interesting to note that ziram and paraquat exposure alone was associated with 80% of that

total increase.

Our estimates of risk for ambient exposure in the workplaces were actually greater than

for exposure at residences, said Dr. Beate Ritz, senior author and a professor of epidemiology at

the UCLA School of Public Health. And, of course, people who both live and work near these

fields experience the greatest PD risk. These workplace results give us independent confirmation

of our earlier work that focused only on residences, and of the damage these chemicals are

doing." Ritz mentions this is the first study that provides strong evidence in humans and the

combination of the three chemicals confers a greater risk of Parkinsons than exposure to the

individual chemicals alone. The way that these pesticides act may be the resulting factor which

leads to the increase in risk of developing the disorder.

"Our results suggest that pesticides affecting different cellular mechanisms that contribute

to dopaminergic neuron death may act together to increase the risk of PD considerably," said

Ritz. These studies are only now appearing because in the past we didnt have data on human
exposure, largely due to the fact that it had been too hard to measure an individuals

environmental exposure to any specific pesticide. This also helps to support the idea of direct

contact not needing to be necessary in order to contract diseases do to pesticides. The get caught

in the wind and drift for miles ending up on plants and animals, as well as floating through open

windows into households.

Ritz has developed a GIS (geographic information system) based tool that was able to

estimate human exposure to pesticides applied to agricultural crops, according to the distance

from fields on which they were sprayed. (Mapping Pesticide Exposure Reveals Association with

Parkinson's Disease by Beate Ritz, M.D., Ph.D.)

This tool helped to keep a record of pesticide use as well as where it was being used. The system

used information such as the active ingredient, the amount that was applied, the crop, the acreage

of the field, the application method and the date that it was used. Starting from 1998 to 2007, her

team of researchers enrolled 362 people with Parkinsons, then got occupational history and

residential addresses from all the participants. Plugging their geographic information system

model, they estimated ambient exposures to the pesticides ziram, maneb and paraquat, while they

were at home and work from 1974 to 1999.

The results of the study grounded what their previous research had suggested, that the

data, suggests that the critical window of exposure to toxicants may have occurred years before

the onset of motor symptoms, when a diagnosis of Parkinsons is made. Knowing that the

fungicide ziram is commonly used in agriculture and suspecting its relationship to Parkinson's,

Ritz turned to her colleague Jeff Bronstein, a UCLA professor of neurology and co-author of the

study, for confirmation. His lab performed a genetic screen using genetically modified cells to
identify pesticides that inhibit the breakdown of important proteins such as alpha-synuclein.

Ziram was one of the best inhibitors they identified. They found that synuclein (a family of

soluble proteins common to vertebrates, primarily expressed in neural tissue and in certain

tumors) accumulated in dopamine neurons, selectively killing them. When conducted in a closed

environment on rats, it reproduced many of the features of Parkinson's disease.

A study done by National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program of the United

States Geological Survey (USGS) provides us with the most convincing wide-scale analysis to

date on the frequency and concentrations in streams and groundwater, based on results from

studies completed during 1992-2001. This showed us that pesticides are often present in streams

and groundwater. While the concentrations arent likely to affect humans they may certainly have

effects on aquatic life. This information is backed by a fact sheet that was published after the

study was conducted (pubs.usgs.gov, Pesticides in the Nation's Streams and Groundwater pub.

2006). From the study we can see that at least one pesticide was detected in water from all the

streams focused on within the survey. The fact sheet provides some images for visual effect

showing us that pesticides were detected throughout most of the year in water from streams, this

number is actually quite impressive at 97 percent. It also shows us that organochlorine pesticides

such as Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), (a colorless, crystalline, tasteless, and almost

odorless organochlorine). and their degradates and by-products were found in fish and bed-

sediment samples from most streams in watersheds. It was also found in 57 percent of the fish

from streams with predominantly undeveloped watersheds. Its important to note that while most

of organochlorine pesticides have not been used in the United States since before the NAWQA

studies began, but their continued presence demonstrates their persistence in the environment.
 The study tells us they were less commonly found in groundwater than in streams. They

occurred the most in shallow groundwater beneath agricultural and urban areas, where more than

50 percent of wells contained on or more pesticide compounds. About one-third of the deeper

wells sampled, which tap major aquifers used for water supply, contained one or more pesticides

or degradates. The findings show that streams are most vulnerable to pesticide contamination,

but ground water also merits careful monitoring-especially in agricultural and urban areas.

Shallow groundwater in some of these areas is used for drinking water and groundwater

contamination is difficult to reverse once it occurs (Pesticides in the Nation's Streams and

Ground-Water, para 3-4). An important part of the study conducted was when it brought up the

point that out of 178 streams sampled nationwide, 56 percent had one or more pesticides in water

that exceeded at least one aquatic-life benchmark. Urban streams had concentrations that

exceeded one or more benchmarks at 83 percent of sites-mostly by the insecticides diazinon,

chlorpyrifos, and malathion. Perhaps more shocking, concentrations exceeded benchmarks in 95

percent of urban streams sampled during 1993-1997 and in 64 percent of streams during 1998-

2000. Agricultural streams had concentrations that exceeded one or more benchmarks at 57

percent of sites. There was also a large amount of pesticide compounds found in bed sediment

exceeding 70% in urban areas.

The most frequently detected herbicides that are used mainly for agriculture are atrazine,

metolachlor and cyanazine among a few others. They were detected most often and at the highest

concentrations in water samples from streams in agricultural areas with their greatest use, most

often in areas where corn was harvested. Herbicides commonly used in urban areas such as

simazine, prometon and 2,4-D were mostly commonly found in those types of streams

throughout the nation, often at higher concentrations than in agricultural streams. The study was
done a few years ago now and while we dont have the historical data to assure future trends for

the spread of pesticides, we can see that the number of contaminated streams and groundwater

are potentially terrifying if these numbers continue into the future. The research now dated

though still exponentially extensive in finding a reason to restrict or even ban the use of these

life-threatening chemicals and the affects they have on marine life.

Our second point I want to make is on a study done by the US National Library of

Medicine, the study is titled Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and

gluten intolerance. This isnt an essay about Celiac disease or gluten intolerance so ill just give

a brief summary explaining what they are. The two are very similar Celiac being the more

specific of the pair. In North America and Europe about 5 percent of people suffer from it. The

symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, skin rashes, macrocytic anemia and depression. It is a

multifactorial disease associated with numerous nutritional deficiencies as well as reproductive

issues and increased risk to thyroid disease, kidney failure and cancer. The study im referring to

in this section is proposing that glyphosate, the active ingredient in herbicides, is the most

important causal factor in this epidemic. Melding back into the previous study (Pesticides in the

Nation's Streams and Groundwater) this one tells us that fish exposed to glyphosate develop

digestive problems that are reminiscent of celiac disease (Para 1, Sentence 5). This is due to the

diseases association with imbalances in gut bacteria that can be fully explained by the known

effects of glyphosate on gut bacteria. Characteristics of celiac disease point to impairment in

many cytochrome P450 enzymes, which are involved with detoxifying environmental toxins,

activating vitamin D3, catabolizing vitamin A, and maintaining bile acid production and sulfate

supplies to the gut. Glyphosate is known to inhibit cytochrome P450 enzymes. Their deficiencies

in natural metals can be attributed to glyphosates ability to chelate elements such as iron, cobalt
and copper. Glyphosates recent increase of residue in wheat and other crops are likely due to the

growing practice of crop desiccation which is done to make sure crops are ripe before harvest.

Some professionals have suggested that the recent surge in celiac disease is simply due to better

diagnostic tools. However, a recent study tested frozen sera obtained between 1948 and 1954 for

antibodies to gluten, and compared the results with sera obtained from a matched sample from

people living today. They identified an increase of 400 percent in the incidence of celiac disease

in the newer cohort compared to the older one. They also determined that undiagnosed celiac

disease is associated with a 4-fold increased risk of death. This is mostly due to increased cancer

risk. They concluded that the prevalence of undiagnosed celiac disease has increased

dramatically in the United States during the past 50 years (paragraph 3, Sentence 1-5). The

article mentions how glyphosate has been shown to disrupt gut bacteria in animals which in turn

causes an overgrowth of pathogens. One of the more interesting pieces from it is a study on

glyphosate exposure in carnivorous fish. This showed the activity of protease, lipase and amylase

were all decreased in the esophagus, stomach and intestines. All features that are highly similar

to those of celiac disease. Thus, the evidence from this effect on fish suggests that glyphosate

may interfere with the breakdown of complex proteins in the human stomach, leaving larger

fragments of wheat in the human gut that will then trigger an autoimmune response, leading to

the defects in the lining of the small intestine that are characteristic of these fish exposed to

glyphosate and of celiac patients the same. I have linked an graph. In it you can see the usage of

glyphosate on wheat in the U.S. has risen sharply in the last decade, in step with the sharp rise in

the incidence of Celiac Disease.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3945755/figure/F0001/
It also mentioned that the gluten peptides in wheat are hydrophobic and therefore resistant to

degradation by gastric, pancreatic and intestinal proteases which can be evidence on the effects it

might have on human body. Evidence of disruption of gut bacteria by glyphosate is available for

poultry (Shehata 2013) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23224412 it disrupts the balance

of gut bacteria in poultry increasing the ratio of pathogenic bacteria to other commensal

microbes. Glyphosate is highly corrosive to the esophageal epidermal lining, with upper GI tract

injury observed in 94 percent of patients following glyphosate ingestion (chang 1999)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10462358 the most common symptoms in an acute

response from glyphosate poisoning were oropharyngeal ulceration, nausea and vomiting.

According to a study by Purdue University veterinary researchers published on April 15, 2004 in

an issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine Association. Exposure to herbicide-

treated lawns and gardens increases the risk of bladder cancer by seven times in Scottish Terriers.

The Study adds to earlier research conducted by the National Institutes of Health that found

elevated rates of canine lymphoma in dogs exposed to lawn pesticides. While we hope to

determine which of the many chemicals in lawn treatments are responsible, we also hope the

similarity between human and dog genomes will allow us to find the genetic predisposition

toward this form of cancer found in both Scotties and certain people said Dr. Glickman, a

professor of epidemiology and environmental medicine in Purdues School of Veterinary

Medicine. Dr. Glickman's group obtained their results by surveying the owners of 83 Scottish

terriers. All of the animals had bladder cancer and were of approximately the same age. Based on

an 18-page questionnaire, owners documented their dogs' housing, duration of exposure to the

lawn or garden and information on the particular lawn treatment used (dog owners provided

either the label from the treatment bottle or, if a company sprayed the lawns directly from a
truck, the name of the lawn service). The results were then compared with a control group of 83

unexposed Scottish terriers of similar age that were undergoing treatment for unrelated ailments

http://ecochem.com/ENN_herbicide_dogs.html (Paragraph 8 May 3, 2004). Dr. Glickman said

We found that the occurrence of bladder cancer was between four and seven times higher in the

group exposed to herbicides, The level of risk corresponded directly with exposure to these

chemicals: The greater the exposure, the higher the risk.. He said it's possible the chemical

known as 2,4 D was to blame, although EPA has not classified it as a carcinogen (a substance

capable of causing cancer in living tissue) despite other epidemiological studies linking it to

cancer in dogs and people. However, he said, it also is possible that one of the so-called inert

ingredients in the mixture which often make up two-thirds of a treatments volume could be

responsible for the increased risk. The reason this is such a problem is because these other

ingredients are thought to be inert and, therefore, are not tested or even listed on the product

label. Because of this lack of understanding of these ingredients there is no regulation to keep

these chemicals from harming our pets. For this reason, 4 billion pounds of these untested

unnoticed chemicals reach our lawns every year. Dr. Glickman theorizes people are unknowingly

triggering cancer in our beloved animals, which are already at risk because of the peculiarity in

their genome.

In addition to the many other ways that pesticides are negatively affecting the world, one of the

largest ways are the detrimental effects on bees. The small insects pollinate up to 1/3 of all our

food and beverages of our crops and without bees we simply would not have them. "Pesticides

Causing Colony Collapse Disorder in Honeybees." Time.Com, 16 May 2014, p. 1. In 2013

beekeepers noticed a 45% drop in honeybee populations after the winter, which has since been
called Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. There are a few speculated causes of CCD by experts

but the main cause is pesticides.

At our local Intermountain Farmers Association (IFA) a manager of bees and pesticides has

agreed to give us an interview. Brody Herridge is an expert in his field and was more than happy

to help spread the word on the harm that pesticides are doing to bees when used wrongly. When

people use harsh pesticides to kill problem insects, theyre often harming more insects than they

mean to, sometimes bees Brody tells us.

A systemic pesticide works by coating soils and seeds with a pesticide that leaches into the

plants that bees come in contact with, often times killing them and harming the entire colony.

Most home and garden stores carry a multitude of systemic pesticides, a lot of the time without

educating customers properly about the potentially dangerous chemicals. IFA is an exception

though, utilizing employees such as Brody Herridge to thoroughly inform anyone buying

systemic pesticides along with any other product, so as to reduce harm to bees.

In the years since the near extinction of the bees due to pesticides, a great defence has been

backyard beekeeping. Our local IFA bee manager, Brody Herridge, has helped supply more than

300 colonies of bees to our local backyard beekeepers. Beekeeping on your own property is one

of the only ways to ensure bees exist for future generations.

However, even though 300 colonies may seem like enough to help, its not. Everybody that is

able should have their own bee colony to care for. Its one of the most effective ways to fight

against the negative effects of pesticides. According to Brody, honeybees are able to pollinate

up to two miles of land, but unless there are backyard colonies packed into every two miles of

the area, there will be dead space or gaps in honeybee coverage that get no pollination aid from

them.
Backyard beekeeping can also be expensive, $550 is a low estimate for first timers which

includes the bee suits, food, tools, everything you need, and the bees themselves. The benefits

are marvelous, that doesnt mean that beekeeping is cheap.

Other downfalls of beekeeping include of course, bee stings, and how hard the actual work is.

Our bee manager explains to us that after the first couple of years of backyard beekeeping it

becomes quite a bit easier, resulting on only needing to check that hive once every three weeks.

Once every three weeks is not a bad amount of time to save the world. But if you are just starting

to try your hand at the sweet trade for the first time, it can be a lot of trial and error, even

resulting in the loss of a whole colony.

All in all backyard beekeeping can be a priceless resource to the cause in fighting the detrimental

effects of pesticides, providing pollination to areas that otherwise wouldnt before, allowing

plants to thrive when they were cut short before.

However, it is still not enough. Beekeeping is not a total fix to the negative effects of pesticides,

more must be done in order to truly make a difference. Honeybees may be an invaluable help to

the world, but they are not the complete solution.

Pesticides don't just affect humans and the environment it affects animals. From the

onegreenplanet.org How Pesticides Are Harming Animals by Kate Good it tells us how Rachel

Carsons Silent Spring in 1962 opened our eyes to see just how dangerous pesticides can be. It

started with the disappearance of birds and the chemical pesticide DDT relation which ten years

later in 1972 the pesticide DDT was banned. It's good that it was banned, but ask why ten years

late. Even though Carson had proved DDT was responsible for weakening birds eggshells and

poisoning lakes which were killing the fish. Kate then goes into how we are behind on the

understanding of chemicals and how they can hurt people and animals. On that point there are
studies that prove how toxic synthetic pesticides are but we still use them in the industrial food

complex. We constantly over use pesticides because we are worried about the crop instead of

worrying about what happens to the environment and the animals it's affecting. Than Kate makes

a good point on wondering why we didn't get rid of all pesticides in 1972.

Atrazine is a synthetic compound herbicide. It's used to prevent pre and post emergence

broadleaf weeds on corn, sugarcane, turf, and golf courses. Atrazine is the most used pesticide in

the United States. Atrazine was the most detected pesticide contaminating drinking water in the

United States. Studies suggest atrazine affects the natural hormonal system. In that case Kate

says frogs have sexual abnormalities because of it. Atrazine does not break down after it washes

off of plants and into watersheds. Kate researched from an article from the YaleEnvironment360

on deformed frogs by Carl Zimmer finding frogs exposed to atrazine could have multiple

ovaries and testes or even frogs with both sets of gendered sex organs. Atrazine has also been

banned in Europe and have been linked to reproductive disorders and cancers in humans.

Kate then goes into pesticides affecting birds because the United States applies over one

billion pounds of pesticides a year which are sprayed across the field and eventually released into

the air. Birds that make contact with pesticides have had a decrease in breeding, impaired ability

to avoid predators or migrate and sometime die.

Bats are already threatened by humans Kate says but pesticides are a big contributor. The

pesticide fenoxycarb has been a big impact on bats proven in studies in the EU. The study shows

that insects that come in contact with fruit trees that were affected by pesticides pick up the

chemical and passes it on up the food chain. So when bats eat the spiders that were in contact

with the fruit tree there exposed to high toxic levels. The bad thing is bats have a slow
reproductive rate which means any disorder the chemical has on the bat could have a big effect

on the bat species.

Kate goes into a usual home pets that's affected by pesticides cats and dogs. She says

between 70 and 80 pound of pesticides are sprayed on lawns per year in the United States. In

these pesticides are chemicals like carbamates and organophosphate which are fat soluble

meaning they quickly go through the body. Dogs and cats are always released to these chemicals

by walking on the lawn, eating the lawn, and even licking their fur which touched the lawn. The

pesticides on lawns have been linked to cancer, respiratory failure, and digestive problems in

pets. What's even worse is if you don't even use pesticides on your lawn, your neighbors lawn

could be a threat as well.

How to stop pesticides from getting to our environment, animals, and bodies is to go

organic. Onegreenplanet.org Consumer Power in a Capitalist World: The Benefits of Buying

Organic by Zion Lights. Zion explains how buying organic will rub it in the big corporations

faces that sell pesticides and other things that are bad for the environment. Zion says organic

methods like composting to enrich crops, reduces soil erosion, increases water efficiency, and

provides nutrients for the crops which makes are land healthier.

To make are animals happier Zion recommends living with the insects instead of waging

war. Instead of harming the environment and everything around it. We have to go organic to help

the environment go back to its state and spread the original word of going green.