It was a U.S. citizen who first alerted the world to the dangers of pesticides. In 1962, Pennsylvania-born Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, which shed light on how DDT and other chemical pesticides harm the environment, according to the Rachel Carson website. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, Carson spent four years studying the book, which explains how DDT accumulates in animal fats, including humans, and causes cancer and other diseases. The book begins with a description of an imaginary town that has simultaneously suffered various disasters caused by DDT in different places: people have died of mysterious diseases, birds tremble and refuse to sing, fish in rivers are emptied, and no bees pollinate apple trees. "No witchcraft, no enemy action killed the lives of this stricken world," Carson wrote. "People do it themselves".
The book has had a significant impact on the world's understanding of pesticides and the broader impact of technological advances on the natural world. President John F. Kennedy ordered the president's Council of Scientific Advisers to investigate Carson's claims, which the committee found she was correct. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), DDT was eventually banned in the United States in 1972. In many ways, however, the United States has now abandoned Carson's legacy. It still allows the use of several harmful pesticides that have been banned abroad.
Neonicotinoids
According to the European Commission, neonicotinoids are insecticides that, as the name suggests, are chemically similar to nicotine. They are also a systemic insecticide, which means they are not only suitable for parts of plants, such as leaves. Instead, they are absorbed by the whole plant and present in every part of the plant, including its nectar. According to the Xerces Society for the Protection of Invertebrates, as a result, neonicotinoids can harm bees and other pollinators. For example, as NPR reported, two 2017 studies found that neonicotinoids present at environmental reality levels kill bees over time and make them harder to reproduce.
According to the European Commission, out of concern for bees, the European Union decided in 2013 to ban three common neonicotinoids on pollinator-friendly crops. Further research prompted the European Union to completely ban the use of these pesticides outdoors in 2018. According to the EPA, these three pesticides — thiamethoxamine, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxine — are still used in the United States. The agency proposed interim measures to protect pollinators in 2020, such as restricting when chemicals can be applied to flowering plants, but did not require a blanket ban.
paraquat
According to the EPA, paraquat dichloride, or paraquat, is a herbicide so toxic that it can kill you in one bite, and according to Reuters, it was also notorious when it was used to kill cannabis fields in Latin America in the 1970s. Based on cell death and differentiation, some studies have also linked paraquat exposure to the development of Parkinson's disease. According to a study by Beyond Pesticides, farm workers exposed to paraquat are twice as likely to develop Parkinson's. However, a comment on the topic published in NeuroToxicology in 2021 (published in Science Direct) concluded, "The scientific community agrees that the available evidence does not support the claim that paraquat causes Parkinson's disease." ”
According to the Pesticide Action Network, paraquat is banned in more than 30 countries for health reasons. According to Reuters, Europe's second highest court banned the use of paraquat in 2007. According to the Pesticide Action Network, China also banned the use of the pesticide in 2012. In the United States, however, it is one of the most commonly used herbicides in the country, and according to the EPA, it is not approved for use by homeowners or residential areas, but is often used by professional applicators to control weeds and dry crops such as cotton.
1,3-D
According to Reveal, the pesticide 1,3-dichloropropene or 1,3-D is a pesticide called a fumigator, meaning it is used in the form of a gas. Farmers use it to disinfect the soil before planting crops. However, it can evaporate and spread from the fields to the surrounding communities. According to the EPA, short-term exposure can cause chest pain and breathing problems, and three people are known to develop cancer after inhaling insecticides after the leak, which the EPA lists as a "probable human carcinogen."
According to BBC News, the EU banned substances 1, 3-D because of its potential impact on human health and the risks it poses to groundwater and "birds, mammals, aquatic organisms and other non-target organisms". However, as of 2017, KCET reported, it is one of the most commonly used pesticides in the United States. According to the Pesticide Action Network, as of 2019, it is the third most commonly used pesticide in the state in California, with more than 12 million pounds used annually.
Atrazine
According to the EPA, atrazine is a common herbicide used to inhibit grasses or broadleaf weeds. Its main use is for crops such as corn, sorghum and sugar cane, but it is also used in lawns and golf courses. According to the International Journal of Ecosystems, it has been linked to many health effects, including leukemia, lymphoma, breast, ovarian and uterine cancers. It is also a chemical that interferes with endocrine, which means it interferes with the production of hormones. As a result, it can lead to birth defects and weight loss.
According to the European Commission, atrazine was banned in the European Union in 2004 because of its potential impact on human health, and it tends to linger in the environment and harm wildlife. However, according to the Pesticide Action Network, it is the second most commonly used pesticide in the United States. It is also the most common pesticide in U.S. drinking water, according to the USDA Pesticide Data Program, with a contamination rate of 89.2%.
glyphosate
According to U.S. News & World Report, glyphosate is a herbicide that is the active ingredient in Monsanto Roundup, which debuted in 1974. In recent years, it has been the subject of controversy and thousands of lawsuits over concerns that it could lead to a cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The World Health Organization's cancer agency determined in 2015 that it "may be carcinogenic to humans." The EPA disagreed, but it also relied on unpaid research commissioned by Monsanto to make the decision, according to European Environmental Sciences.
As of 2020, 10 countries, including Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam, have banned or plan to ban glyphosate, Human Rights Watch said. The EPA reiterates its position that the pesticide is safe by 2020. However, Bayer, which acquired Monsanto, took its own action in 2021. It announced that it will replace glyphosate as the active ingredient in its Roundup products sold to residential use in 2020. The United States starts in 2023. According to Chemical & Engineering News, the move comes as the company sought to settle more than 125,000 lawsuits filed by plaintiffs claiming that using Roundup had caused them cancer. It settled about 75 percent of cases in 2020 for nearly $10 billion, but still faces more than 30,000 cases. The company said in a statement: "This move is all about managing litigation risks and not for any security concerns." ”