- What are pesticides?
- Types of pesticides
- Pesticide risks
- Pesticides and pesticides
- Pesticides and fertilizers
- Organic pesticides
We explain what pesticides are, what types of pesticides exist and why they are dangerous. Also, organic pesticides.
What are pesticides?
Pesticides, pesticides, or biocides are types of chemical compounds intended to repel, attract, destroy, prevent or combat any undesirable species of plants or animals.
They are used during the production, storage, transportation and distribution stages of food of agricultural origin, whether food for humans or animals. Also included in pesticides are substances that are administered to farmed animals to rid them of ectoparasites (parasites that live on the outside of the animal's body).
The term pesticide does not include various substances of daily use in the farming industry, such as different fertilizers, nutrients, additives and animal drugs.
Desiccants, defoliant agents (substances that cause plant leaves to shed), products that decrease the density of fruits, substances that inhibit germination, substances that are put into food during harvest are considered pesticides. , storage and transport to delay their deterioration, and products that regulate plant growth. Pesticide substances are used to combat the most frequent pests of food plant species, such as insects, mushrooms, bacteria, mollusks, small mammals, birds and even other plant species.
Without necessarily constituting poisons, these substances can be harmful to both the human being as for other third species, which consume them inadvertently in food or their derived products.
Pesticides of various kinds have been used in modern agricultural industry from early times. In the 1980s there was a veritable explosion of pesticides that allowed the increase in world agricultural production to revolutionary levels.
Relatively inexpensive and very effective, they were even used as a preventive measure, without waiting for signs of some kind of pollution, which led to a catastrophic scenario.
The misuse of pesticides on the one hand caused significant ecological damage that led to the banning of many of them (such as DDT, dichlo diphenyl trichloroethane). On the other hand, it led to the emergence of resistant pests or new different agricultural pests, such as certain species of mites.
Types of pesticides
There are several types of pesticides, generally designed to attack a specific type of pest, be it animal, microbial or vegetable. Based on this purpose, we can classify them into:
- Algaecides. They slow the growth or prevent the appearance of algae.
- Antimicrobials. They destroy germs and microbes vegetables, especially bacteria and virus.
- Desiccants Cause the loss of Water of certain plant tissues, thus drying out pests of plant origin.
- Defoliants. They cause certain plant species to lose their leaves, thus preventing them from photosynthesis.
- Bombs against insects. They kill insects. They are known in English as “foggers” because they are applied from airplanes or drones and create a kind of fog (fog) on the crop.
- Herbicides They kill unwanted herbs or plant species that proliferate in growing areas, competing with agricultural species.
- Molluscicides. They cause the desiccation of slugs and other mollusks.
- Regulators of insect growth. They inhibit certain steps in the circuit reproductive of insects.
- Rodenticides. They kill mice, rats, and other similar rodents.
- Antifungals or fungicides. They prevent the appearance of mushrooms or they remove them from fruits and plants.
- Repellents They cover protected species and give them an unpleasant smell and taste that keeps common pests away.
- Synergistic pesticides. They enhance and maximize the effectiveness of other pesticides.
According to the magnitude of the damage they can cause to humans, pesticides can also be classified into:
- Low danger. They do not involve considerable damage when inhaled, ingested or in contact with the skin.
- Toxic They involve considerable damage when inhaled, ingested or in contact with the skin.
- Harmful. They involve serious damage that can leave chronic sequelae or even cause death when incorporated into the human body through the ways described in the previous points.
- Extremely toxic. They involve very serious, acute damage, which can cause death in a short time.
They can also be differentiated according to the way they are applied to certain crops or animals. In this sense they can be:
- Gases
- Aerosol sprays
- Powder
- Solid tablets or pills
- Liquids
Pesticide risks
The use of these pesticide products involves certain risks. Among them, we can list the following:
- Deterioration of benign species. Due to their indiscriminate use over large areas of cultivation, pesticides can cause the death of species that are harmless or even benign for the crop, causing enormous ecological damage to the crop. environment and, sometimes, even accidentally promoting the emergence of new pests due to the absence of predators
- Permanent damage to the human organism. Traces of these products that can sometimes be found in food, river and lake water (or water from underground deposits contaminated) or even inhaled directly from air, can cause different types of harm to people. According to the damage caused, pesticides can be:
- Carcinogens. They cause different types of cancer and / or leukemia.
- Neurotoxic They cause direct damage to the brain or Central Nervous System.
- Teratogens. They cause deformations in fetuses and damage to growing babies, and also damage the reproductive system of the persons.
- Suffocating They cause damage to the respiratory system and they can induce suffocation or lung failure.
- Food contamination. Given its abundant use throughout different stages of the production chain, it is possible that food destined for consumption of human being or the animals contain traces of variable concentration of these toxic products.
Pesticides and pesticides
The terms pesticides Y pesticides are synonyms in Spanish. The first comes from "plague" and the second from "plague." The word "plague" implies an invasion of harmful organisms. The word "plague" refers to a contagious disease. Both terms are for agricultural purposes, they are totally the same.
Pesticides and fertilizers
Fertilizers are additives that promote plant growth.Unlike pesticides, fertilizers are substances intended to improve or enhance the growth and production of agricultural plant species. They usually consist of substances added to the I usually or to the water that give the plants a plus of nutrients to accelerate growth, fill nutrient deficiencies in the soil or boost fruit production.
However, fertilizers are also substances, in many cases, of origin inorganic and capable of causing various damages. Overuse can destroy the plant you are trying to feed, making the soil too hard for its roots or modifying the levels of chemicals in the soil itself.
In addition, excess fertilizers is washed away by rain or water and usually ends up in rivers, lakes and seas, where it adds an unusual component to the availability of nutrients, generating abnormal growth of algae and other plant species.
This can lead to ecological crises that lead to food or tourism crises, such as what happens with sargassum in the Yucatan Peninsula, in Mexico.
Organic pesticides
Organic pesticides or biopesticides are those that are extracted from natural sources, such as other plants, or abundant minerals, that is, they do not come from a laboratory. They have much less impact on the ecosystem, although they do not necessarily carry lower risks for the Human health, so they also require scrupulous handling.
This type of pesticide tends to have a more limited effect, a slower action and less problems of residual presence, reason why many times they are not chosen in place of the traditional pesticides.
Furthermore, instead of eradicating populations Of pests, they tend rather to keep them under control, within minimally acceptable parameters, causing much less damage to the ecological balance of the species.
Some of these biopesticides can be of microbial origin and, sometimes, they are simply predatory species of pests, which are in charge of keeping their growth under control, without putting other benign species at risk.