Harmful effects of pesticides

The pattern of suicide usage in India is different from that for the world in general.. The use of herbicides and fungicides is correspondingly less heavy. The main use of pesticides in India is for cotton crops (45%), followed by payday and wheat. The primary benefits are the consequences of the pesticides’ effects – the direct gains expected from their use. For example the effect of killing caterpillars feeding on the crop brings the primary benefit of higher yields and better quality of cabbage. The three main effects result in 26 primary benefits ranging from protection of correctional turf to saved human lives.

The secondary benefits are the less immediate or less obvious benefits that result from the primary benefits. They may be subtle, less intuitively obvious, or of longer term. It follows that for secondary benefits it is therefore more difficult to establish cause and effect, but nevertheless they can be powerful Justifications for pesticide use. For example the higher cabbage yield might bring additional revenue that could be put towards children’s education or medical care, leading to a healthier, better educated population.

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There are various By deckhands secondary benefits identified, ranging trot titter people to cones Improving productivity Tremendous benefits have been derived from the use of pesticides in forestry, public health and the domestic sphere – and, of course, in agriculture, a sector upon which the Indian economy is largely dependent. Food grain production, which stood at a mere 50 million tons in 1948-49, had increased almost fourfold to 198 million tons by the end of 1996-97 from an estimated 169 million hectares of permanently cropped land.

This result has been achieved by the use of high-yield varieties of seeds, advanced irrigation technologies and agricultural chemicals (Employment Information: Indian Labor Statistics, 1994). Similarly outputs and productivity have increased dramatically in most countries. The transport sector makes extensive use of pesticides, particularly herbicides. Herbicides and insecticides are used to maintain the turf on sports pitches, cricket grounds and golf courses. Insecticides protect buildings and other wooden structures from damage by termites and woodworking insects. Vector-borne diseases are most effectively tackled by killing the vectors.

Insecticides are often the only practical way to control the insects that spread deadly diseases such as malaria, resulting in an estimated 5000 deaths each day (Ross, 2005). In 2004, Batik wrote that malaria is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the developing world and a major public health problem in India. Disease control strategies are crucially important also for livestock. Quality of food In countries of the first world, it has been observed that a diet containing fresh fruit ND vegetables far outweigh potential risks from eating very low residues of pesticides in crops (Brown, 2004).

Increasing evidence (Dietary Guidelines, 2005) shows that eating fruit and vegetables regularly reduces the risk of many cancers, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and other chronic diseases. Heavy treatment of soil with pesticides can cause populations of beneficial soil microorganisms to decline. Conclusion The data on environmental-UCM-health risk assessment studies may be regarded as an aid towards a better understanding of the problem.