The Impact of Toxic Pesticides in the

Future

A report from the FFA

Cameron Miller
3/10/23
Table of Contents

Table of Contents....................................................................................................................2

Abstract..................................................................................................................................3

The Effects of Toxic Pesticides................................................................................................3

Soil Pollution.....................................................................................................................................3

Other Environmental Toxicity.........................................................................................................3

Potential Side Effects in Humans.....................................................................................................4

Natural and Unnatural Alternatives........................................................................................4

Long-Term Effects of Pesticides..............................................................................................5

Conclusion..............................................................................................................................5

References..............................................................................................................................6

2
Abstract
With the population of humanity sitting just above seven billion people it is it’s impossible to
use natural, conventional farming methods while providing enough food for everyone. Without
genetically modified organisms (GMO’s)and pesticides pests damage crops too much to provide
for the population even in North America (Perdue University). Not everyone agrees that GMOs
are the safest to consume. It has a connotation of changing the produce in some way however
the process is more like selective breeding but more precise. Pesticides on the other hand leave
a more lasting impact on the environment and the plants.

The term pesticide refers to any substance or chemical that eliminates rodents, weeds, insects,
or any other organisms that might thrive where they are unwanted.the pesticides are toxic
otherwise it wouldn’t be effective however America needs to be more aware that the plants
absorb the poison in the soil, and it gets stored throughout the plants; including the parts we
consume. Furthermore, some pesticides such as organochloride compositions, are stored in fats
which could prove to be harmful for humans if consumed for long enough.

We must replace these destructive chemicals with others that we know can be broken down
before becoming a problem: namely pyrethrin. Pyrethrin, found naturally in chrysanthemum
flowers, can be used to repel outside forces that impact the growth of crops with minimal
damage to humans and other mammals as well as the soil the plants are growing in.

The Effects of Toxic Pesticides

Soil Pollution
Continued use of pesticides and other additives to soil will, over time, ruin the Ph of the soil
driving it either up or down depending on the chemical used but killing the plant regardless.
After the soil has absorbed too much it’s nearly impossible to return the soil to the way that it
was. If the soil is moved the damage is moved with it making it unfeasible to relocate without
poisoning any other area. The most practical solution available after the soil has been
completely poisoned is to try and reduce the amount of harm that toxic soil can inflict.

Toxic soil is unable to be used to grow crops and if left too long, the toxicity will seep into
ground water or air creating a small contagious area that will grow if left alone. The damaged
soil alone is a huge problem as that soil won’t be usable again for lifetimes but if left too long
the pollutants will move and damage even more area.

Other Environmental Toxicity

When soil moves all of its nutrients move with it, however so do the toxins. It’s possible that
the pesticides could be washed into a body of water in which case they would dissipate more
slowly as they are designed for soil. If the toxins don’t kill the plant or sea life outright, they are

3
left with those toxins in their bodies for other creatures to consume. These chemicals aren’t
built to be broken down in the water and can persist far longer than they would on land.

Pollutants can also travel through the air, for example when airplanes fly low over fields to
deliver pesticides. When delivered through something like an airplane, those pesticides can
travel however far the wind carries them often into places where they aren’t needed or
wanted. This can have lasting impacts on the areas where they are taken, to both the plant life
and the animal life.

The plants and animals effected by these chemicals are left more susceptible to cancers,
immune disorders, nervous system problems and other side effects for babies still in their
mother’s womb (Nazarova). This also stands true for humans. If these chemicals were replaced
with something that humans and other animals could better handle then these symptoms could
be reduced or removed entirely.

Potential Side Effects in Humans

Plants don’t have a choice about what their roots intake, whatever is available is what gets
absorbed. When the soil and the plants are exposed to toxic materials like pesticides they
absorb and store those materials. When plants or animals consume the plants, those toxic
materials get passed into us when we consume that ‘contaminated’ organism. Sometimes we
process them, other times the toxic material can’t be processed and gets stored in the body.
Continued exposure to these toxins hasn’t been researched enough to know if all of it is safe or
not however some chemicals have shown signs of leaving a lasting impact.

Research conducted by Elmira A. Nazarova, et al. states that “organochlorine pesticides are
compounds from the group of persistent organic pollutants that are particularly resistant to
physical, chemical and biological factors. They have the ability to bioaccumulate in the fatty
tissue of living organisms”. That implies that when humans consume these plants, they are in
fact are consuming this composition and it stays in our bodies. This composition has been
observed to cause damage to the immune system, nervous system and affect development of
children in the womb as stated in the previous section.

Natural and Unnatural Alternatives

GMOs can have a connotation of bad produce or being ‘tampered’ with but creating a ‘GMO’ is
simply introducing a desirable genome to the plant to get a more desirable plant. For instance,
tomatoes can be very difficult to grow as they are very fickle and require a very particular kind
of soil, however by making them more resilient through genetic modification we can grow more
tomatoes more easily. The process is a lot closer to selective breeding than most people think
but they get a bad reputation because people don’t know about the process.

There are more natural alternatives to get rid of pests in a garden though; for example,
chrysanthemum flowers produce their own pesticide, pyrethrin, which have been shown to be
up to twenty-five hundred times more effective on insects than humans and other animals. For
4
smaller gardens, simply planting chrysanthemums around could provide a significant amount of
repellence while providing more color. There are ways to extract the pyrethrin from the flowers
if one wanted to concentrate and spread the chemical over a wider area.

Researchers are experimenting with micro-organisms to see if any will consume types of
pesticides that are deemed toxic. Some success has been found with this method and the
results have shown that this could be used to clean larger plots of land, but more tests need to
be run to find out which microbes will eat which pollutants.

Long-Term Effects of Pesticides

Pecticides that are toxic leave lasting damage in animals, as they are stored in the body not
processed. These toxins stay within our bodies and cause damage to us and to future
generations. These substances can be passed down, specifically in the womb, and they have
been shown to leave damage to developing fetuses. These changes in our physiology could
leave us more susceptible to any number of diseases, as they weaken our immune systems and
nervous systems. If left unchecked these toxins could ravage future generations or leave them
with another pandemic.

By replacing those with the naturally occurring pyrethrin in conjunction with genetic
modification we could produce sustainable, healthy crop with minimal lasting damage to
humans in the future.

Conclusion
The world needs the study the effect that these harmful chemicals have, not only on the plants
and soil that are affected but the human lives that are affected as well. Humans know a good
deal about what will and will not cause harm however there has been damage done from
before us that still hasn’t been fixed and won’t be until we find the right solutions. The damage
can’t be moved or slowed, it must simply stop happening or happen on a manageable scale.

5
References
Salt, David E. “GMO or non‐GMO? That Is the Question.” The New Phytologist, vol. 237, no. 1,
2023, pp. 7–8, https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18399.

Nazarova, Elmira A., et al. “Influence of Destructive Bacteria and Red Clover (trifolium
Pratense L.) on the Pesticides Degradation in the Soil.” Environmental Geochemistry and
Health, vol. 44, no. 2, 2022, pp. 399–408, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-00821-5.

Lopez-Dávila, Edelbis, et al. “Toxicological and Ecotoxicological Pressure Assessment on the

Use of Synthetic Pesticides in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba.” Ciencia y Tecnología
Agropecuaria, vol. 22, no. 2, 2021, https://doi.org/10.21930/rcta.vol22_num2_art:1520.

https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2016/Q1/study-eliminating-gmos-would-take-toll-
on-environment,-economies.html