The document discusses the negative impacts of pesticide use. It defines pesticides as poisons used to kill pests that harm plants, animals, or humans. The main reasons pesticides are bad are that they are harmful to human health, contaminate water sources, and some pests they target are not actually harmful. Pesticides can cause various cancers, developmental issues, and acute symptoms. They also negatively impact wildlife and aquatic environments, killing millions of birds and fish each year. The widespread use of pesticides results in millions of pesticide poisonings and deaths among agricultural workers and the general public annually.

1. Why are Pesticides Bad? By Jolie Blair

2. What are Pesticides? Pesticides are poisons used to kill pests. We use pesticides to kill off pests that hurt us, animals or plants. Farmers first used them to kill of bugs and weeds because they have big fields. After a while the cities and towns started using them. Pests don’t have to be just bugs they can be weeds, diseases that kill plants, and other animals such as rats or mice.

3. What do Pesticides Look Like? Pesticides come in bottles, boxes and bags. Some pesticides look either white or yellow dust when it is in cans. Pesticides in a bag look like gray or yellow dirt. Other pesticides look like candy in small bags.

4. Why are Pesticides Bad? The main reason pesticides are bad is because they are bad for our health. The second reason is because when it rains, the water picks up the pesticides and puts them into our rivers and drinking water. The last reason is that some of the pests, like bugs, are not bad for the plants and some even help the plants.

5. How can Pesticides Affect Us? Pesticides can…… Cause a variety of cancers Cause child development interference Cause low birth weights Cause birth defects Make your skin itch and turn red Give you headache Make you dizzy, shaky and tired Be fatal if put in your mouth Be fatal if spilt on skin

6. How do Pesticides Affect the Environment? Approx. 67 million birds die each year from pesticides in the air Hundreds of fish die each year due to pesticide run-offs in the water Pesticides can…….. Kill wildlife due to posing Cause reproductive, developmental, and behavioral problems

7. Facts About Pesticides At least three million people are poisoned by pesticides every year. 25 million agricultural workers are poisoned every year. More than 200,000 people die each year from pesticides Half of all pesticides are used on the five main crops- cereals, corn/maize, rice, cotton and soya.

9. Sources http://entoplp.okstate.edu/IPM/School_IPM/IPM%20Docs/pesticidesafety. pdf http://www.grinningplanet.com/2006/update-2005-05-24/pesticides-in-food. htm http://www.onlinelawyersource.com/pesticides/effects.html http://www.newint.org/issue323/facts. htm http://www.fws.gov/Contaminants/Info/FAQsContam.cfm