The Truth About Pesticides

The Truth About Pesticides
A pesticide is a substance or mixture that directly or indirectly destroys, stupefies, repels, inhibits, or prevents attacks of any pest in relation to a plant, place or thing (Toxins). Types of pesticides include substances that kill weeds (herbicides), insects (insecticides), fungus (fungicides), rodents (rodenticides), and others (Toxins). Pesticides were created to maximize crop yields by protecting the plant from possible attackers and are composed of chemicals that are dangerous (A history). Combining chemicals to create pesticides pose even greater risks (Bee).
Proper research was not done on the possible effects that these chemical pesticides could have on attackers, or farmers. Current research has proven
But what often times gets overlooked are the pollinators that are affected too. A pollinator is an animal that enables plants to make fruit or seeds by fertilizing them. “Only fertilized plants can make fruit and/or seeds, and without them, the plants cannot reproduce. In order to pollinate a plant, the pollinator must touch parts of the flower of the plant” (“What is a pollinator”). For this reason, animals like bees, hummingbirds, and some kinds of butterflies are the best pollinators, because they get their food from the flower of the plant causing them to brush up against parts of the flower (What is a pollinator). “When a bee collects nectar and pollen from the flower of a plant, some pollen from the stamens- the male reproductive organ of the flower- sticks to the hairs of its body. When the bee visits the next flower, some of this pollen is rubbed off onto the stigma, or tip of the pistil- the female reproductive organ of the flower. When this happens, fertilization is possible, and a fruit, carrying seeds, can develop (Pollination). Pesticides also stick to the bees hairs which results in it spreading to other plants, including wild plants. Once in the soil, pesticides leach into the water system