Limiting The Use Of Pesticides In Silent Spring By Rachel Carson

The following involves the second chapter of Carson’s book, Silent Spring that was written in 1962. In this chapter Carson argues persuasively the adverse impacts of pesticides upon the environment and the risks on human health and the environment associated with these “genetic invaders” (Carson, 1962). Many of the extremely diverse people from Carson’s audience targeted were under the impression that chemicals like DDT, at that time in history, were safe for their health. Carson reconciles and attempts to persuade the public to consider the idea that DDT, which in the 1950s and 60s was one of the many chemical pesticides being manufactured and sold to

Carson speaks about the diminishment of us as a human being. With the amount of harmful pesticides we use without fully understanding its consequences, we are slowly killing our human race. When pesticides are sprayed on crops and insects, they end up getting into our bodies. Adopting the easy way of getting rid of insects is harming us in the long run.

Although people are well intentioned in their use of pesticides, people are ignorant of the harmful effects of them. Carson uses appeal of to pathos and logos to convey his point. Carson describes in the passage that while people are trying to kill weeds and insects, as a consequence of that we are in return hurting our ecosystem. She states, “ to still the song of the bird and the leaping of fish in the stream, to coat the leaves with a deadly film, and to linger on in soil all this intended target may be only a few weeds or insects”. This quote in the passage is used to appeal to the reader’s sense of emotion by making the reader feel a sense of responsibility. Although people easily kill bugs and weeds, they would never think that it would

To understand pesticides, we must look at the facts about them. According to the EPA, pesticides are chemicals specifically designed and sold to prevent, destroy, or repel pests from garden, greenhouses, fields, and orchards (Learn About Chemicals Around Your House). Charlotte Gerber’s article, How Do Pesticides Kill Bugs, explained that pesticides targets insects and kills them by attacking the nervous system and then when the muscles are over-stimulated, this will lead to paralysis and death. The effect of the organophosphates that cause that in pesticides was discovered in the 1930's during World War II. They were used in the creation of nerve gas, which was used in chemical warfare. When used in lethal dosages for humans, organophosphates cause extreme excitability, convulsions, paralysis and in most cases, death (Gerber). According to Effects of Pesticides on Human Health, The World Health Organization estimates that there are 3 million cases of pesticide poisoning each year and up to 220,000 deaths, primarily in developing countries (Lah and Glibert 2011). Children, and any other young and developing organisms, are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of pesticides. Even very low levels of exposure during development may have adverse health effects. Exposure can even lead to neurological health effects such as memory loss, loss of

In the early 1940’s, a new technology emerged that was able to successfully combat crop-damaging and disease-carrying insects. A new age of synthetic chemical pesticides use arose. After their impressive success in fighting deadly insect-borne diseases during World War II, pesticides were used widely to combat insect pests for agriculture and public health. Few people challenged the benefits of the new scientific and technological products and many embraced pesticide use with enthusiasm. Despite its success, doubts about pesticide use began to appear a decade later in the 1950’s, when the government began a vigorous pesticide campaign across the country against insect pests. Scientists began reporting heavy losses of avian and

The banning of insecticide, a major pollutant and neurotoxin, has been up for debate for a significant period of time. However,

With dangerous pesticides becoming more and more prevalent in the late fifties and early sixties, Rachel Carson, an influential writer and scientist, took a stand by writing an extremely controversial essay, “The Obligation to Endure.” Her writings would go on to pave the way for many improvements in America’s environmental policies, especially concerning pesticides. Despite the significance of this article, some points in her writing stand as outdated with today’s technology and other aspects of her argument are inaccurate.

Throughout Carsons essay, she presents many views on pesticides but always makes sure to connect a scientific fact to support those views. This way of persuasion is shown in her beginning argument where she starts off using facts about how pesticides have chemicals that pollute the environment and its living creatures. According to Carson, "This pollution is for the most part irrecoverable; the chain of evil it initiates not only in the world that must support life but living tissues is, for the most part, irreversible" (329). Basically, Carson

Carson clarifies that “the sprays, dust, and aerosols are now applied almost universally to farms, gardens, forests, and homes-nonselective chemicals that have the power to kill every insect, the “good” and the “bad”.” In contemporary world today many people use these mankind chemicals without understanding the effects of nature. For example, the reproduction of bees are dropping traumatically because of the pesticides effects on the insects. According to CNN “How Pesticides are killing the bees “Recent data published in science, Nature and other un journals show that bees are dying from some pesticides that are found in our food supply.” The damaged the chemicals are doing to the bees have worries many scientists. The New York Times wrote, pesticide linked to honeybee deaths, “a group of pesticide believed to contribute to mass deaths of honeybees.” Another example of the harmful chemicals affecting the good insects are by destroying favorable insects such as lady bugs and butterflies, which are another great alternative way to pollinate flower. These beneficial insects are very important for human wellbeing; therefore, we should minimize the use of

In 17 chapters, many of which can stand alone as essays, Carson develops a deceptively simple premise: the use and overuse of synthetic chemicals to control insect pests introduces these chemicals into the air, water, and soil and into the food chain where they poison animals and humans, and disrupt the many intricate

This scholarly text book, part of a series called Current Controversies, is composed of primary sources taken from a diversity of informational categories including books, newspapers, periodicals, international government documents, and the publications of organizations. The authors in this series examine some of the issues that typical arise in the debate about pesticides, including whether they are detrimental to human health, animals and the environment, whether they are essential to curtailing international hunger, and what the future of pesticides might be. This book widely mirrors the mosaic of opinions in both parts of the debate regarding the benefits and harmful effects

This suggests that the roadsides was once beautiful and bloomed with healthy and lively vegetation; however, they are now destroyed due to the use of pesticides. From these examples, it can be shown that even though pesticide is beneficial, its deadly effects outweigh its benefits; in addition, it is a dangerous substances to the environment, organisms, and even human.

Pesticides are all around us. They have become so engrained in our society that we really don't notice them anymore. They are used on virtually all of our fruits and vegetables as well as on things such as the cotton used to make our clothing. There are hundreds of unregulated chemicals being used on our products everyday with no repercussions on those that use them (“The Problem”). This cycle of unregulation and serious consequence is a dangerous precedent that must be addressed in the near future. This is a large problem that faces America and has managed to stay behind the scenes for the better part of a half century. In recent years, however, several agencies such as the EPA and the CDC as well as private organizations

In the world of agriculture, a large portion of resources are dedicated to pesticides in order to keep crops safe from common pests. However, no matter what the benefits of their use may be, the collective adverse effects outweigh the positives. First, this paper will explore the concept of pesticides and why they are harmful. Next, a way these pesticides’ effects emerge is through the environment and the health of organisms. Another way that hits closer to home is how they are affecting us, and especially our youth. Effects that pesticides lead to are the way they affect the environment in a negative way, how animal’s lifestyle changes due to the chemicals found in pesticides and how our bodies slowly deteriorate from the consumption. Knowing that using pesticides lead to harmful outcomes, we should prevent their use and find better alternatives. It would be more ethical to find environmentally friendly methods than to use the lethal chemical pesticides.

As stated before there are many benefits and harms to pesticide use. Benefits of pesticides include that it protects agriculture and creates jobs, it’s good for the economy, it helps to maintain facilities, and it maintains health care because pests carry diseases. Harmful effects of pesticide use include that there are dangerous chemicals in the pesticides which are sprayed on plants that are consumed by people, therefore putting the dangerous chemicals into the people that eat the plant and causing health issues. When using pesticides, the pests will eventually adapt to the pesticide which will happen due to natural selection. When the pesticides build up on plants this causes Bioaccumulation. Humans are not the only things