G07: Sciences Chemistry: Pesticides & Insecticides

The most common method of pest control is the use of pesticides—chemicals that either kill pests or inhibit their development. Pesticides are often classified according to the pest they are intended to control. For example, insecticides are used to control insects; herbicides to control plants; fungicides, fungi; rodenticides, rodents; avicides, birds; and bactericides to control bacteria. Pesticides also include chemosterilants and growth regulators, which are used to interfere with the normal reproduction or development of the pest.

Spinach and kale are ranked second and third, respectively, on Environmental Working Group (EWG)'s Dirty Dozen. It's a list of the fruits and vegetables with the most residue, or leftover bits, of pesticide. Farmers use pesticides, which are chemicals meant to keep bugs and other pests from eating their crops. Pesticides also keep weeds from overtaking crops.

Every summer, South Florida residents battle swarms of mosquitoes. They do this by spraying pesticides. However, new research has found that routine spraying is causing much greater harm to innocent bystanders: butterflies.

A new study examined the effect of three of the world's most widely used insecticides. Two of them caused significant harm to bumblebee colonies but a third had no effect.

The study shows the distinct effects of each type of neonicotinoid pesticide. Neonicotinoid are a class of pesticides related to nicotine. The effects range from cuts in live bees and eggs to changed sex ratios and numbers of queens. Previously, the different types of neonicotinoids have often been treated as if they were all the same.

Concern about the environment and the harmful effects of pollution and pesticides is a part of our daily life. But before Rachel Carson wrote "Silent Spring," environmentalism was neither common nor popular. Pesticides were seen as the most effective way to reduce pests and increase agricultural production. The health of the environment was secondary to the progress of human civilization. This view changed because of Rachel Carson.

Potassium compounds have many commercial uses. Potassium chloride (KCl) is used in preparing other potassium compounds and in fertilizers.
Potassium nitrate (KNO3), also known as niter or saltpeter, has wide use as a fertilizer and in fireworks and explosives.
Applications for potassium sulfate (K2SO4) include use as a laxative and in the production of fertilizer, rubber, and potassium carbonate. Potassium cyanide (KCN) is a poison used in some insecticides and is a source for the fumigant hydrogen cyanide.

What are Pesticides?
Pesticides are chemical substances that are meant to kill pests. In general, a pesticide is a chemical or a biological agent such as a virus, bacterium, antimicrobial, or disinfectant that deters, incapacitates, kills, pests.

This use of pesticides is so common that the term pesticide is often treated as synonymous with plant protection product. It is commonly used to eliminate or control a variety of agricultural pests that can damage crops and livestock and reduce farm productivity. The most commonly applied pesticides are insecticides to kill insects, herbicides to kill weeds, rodenticides to kill rodents, and fungicides to control fungi, mould, and mildew.

Article by Friends of the Earth.
The pesticide industry has undergone massive consolidation in recent years, and just four corporations now control over 84 percent of the market for pesticides: Bayer-Monsanto, DowDuPont, Syngenta-ChemChina and BASF.