Pesticides

The growing of tobacco requires many more pesticides than food crops. During one three-month growing period pesticides may be used 16 times. Large amounts of pesticides can be washed away by rains into streams, rivers, and other bodies of water. This often causes the pollution of drinking water and the poisoning of plants, fish and other animals. The offspring of insects exposed to large amounts of pesticides may become pesticide-resistant.

Pesticide-Resistant Insects

Pesticides used in tobacco growing are often washed away by rains into bodies of water where insects lay eggs. The pesticides kill many insects but not all. Only those insects that can resist the pesticides survive to lay eggs. These insects pass their ability to resist pesticides to future generations of insects through their genes. The result is insects that are not affected by pesticides.

The insects become pesticide-resistant. In many of the poorer countries that grow tobacco, malaria and other diseases are carried by insects. These countries depend on pesticides to control these insects. If these insects become pesticide-resistant, what would the effect be for public health? Can you think of ways to naturally control insect populations?

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