pesticides

            Pesticides have been in use for so long I think we as humans forget how harmful they are. Our only concern is to get rid of one specific thing but we ignore how these chemicals are effecting the rest of the world.

I was also blind to the effects of pesticides before reading this book because I would freely spray a chemical to get rid of a certain bug that I did not want near the house. I always just thought that one chemical would be effecting what I wanted it to but I never thought about how much it could be effecting the things around it as well as myself. During the video we watched in class it shocked me to learn how much chemicals people had inside of their bodies, especially ones that were banned long before some of these people were born. An example that Carson explains in her novel is about getting rid of the gypsy moth and fire ants. During the process of this, massive amounts of harmful chemicals would be sprayed and ended up in farm lands and many other places. The chemicals would then be transferred into the fruits and vegetables and the consumers of that (other animals and humans) are now allowing that chemical to enter their bodies as well. With little knowledge of how harmful these chemicals could be they continued to be sprayed and once it is out there it is going to be hard to get rid of.

I believe it is important for chemicals to be researched and approved to be safe before they are sprayed everywhere. I believe there are still thousands of chemicals we spray and forget how it will affect the world around it. Most people, including myself, do not read warning labels or the ingredients that are in the chemicals they use and we have these things sitting in our homes without much thought. Even in the food we eat, certain chemicals go into them and we still do not pay attention, read, or really care about what we are putting into our bodies because we believe that these things are checked for us before they are approved and sent out to stores.