The Negative Effects Of Pesticides On Animals Essay
Another point about the negative effects of pesticides is that they harm animals and have some extreme impacts on their health and the survival of the species. In a journal on how the use of pesticides endangers wildlife and the environment, prominent author, investigative journalist, and science reporter Sonia Shah explains that seemingly benign levels of pesticides impair immune function in wildlife, leading to outbreaks of disease. In recent die-offs, millions of amphibians, bees, and bats died, decimating the populations (Shah, 1). Shah describes how it does not take an exorbitant amount of agrochemicals to harm an animal. When an animal’s immunity is compromised due to pesticide exposure, its body loses the ability to resist diseases,
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Casida , a professor of Environmental Science at the University of California in Berkeley, when observing pesticide-environment interactions reported; “A large number and great variety of pesticides… have reproductive and endocrine disrupting effects in mammals and wildlife” (Casida, 492). Many pesticides cause hormone levels within animals to become unbalanced, affecting sexual organs and reproductive systems, causing them to have unnatural issues. Such effects range from small, unnoticeable changes in the physiology and behavior of a species to destroying bird embryos to permanently altered sexual differentiation. In a recent case, bald eagles were at the top of the endangered species list. As a result of exposure to the pesticide DDT, the eggshells of the eagles became thin, causing them to break during the incubation period. DDT was banned in the late 1970’s and the bald eagle populations have been rising since (Bald Eagles, Sea to Shining Sea). As one could imagine, if DDT had not been regulated and banned in the United States, then the country would have lost its majestic national bird to pesticide poisoning. This shows that pesticides are extremely harmful to wildlife and can cause detrimental damage not only to the animal itself, but to its
Casida , a professor of Environmental Science at the University of California in Berkeley, when observing pesticide-environment interactions reported; “A large number and great variety of pesticides… have reproductive and endocrine disrupting effects in mammals and wildlife” (Casida, 492). Many pesticides cause hormone levels within animals to become unbalanced, affecting sexual organs and reproductive systems, causing them to have unnatural issues. Such effects range from small, unnoticeable changes in the physiology and behavior of a species to destroying bird embryos to permanently altered sexual differentiation. In a recent case, bald eagles were at the top of the endangered species list. As a result of exposure to the pesticide DDT, the eggshells of the eagles became thin, causing them to break during the incubation period. DDT was banned in the late 1970’s and the bald eagle populations have been rising since (Bald Eagles, Sea to Shining Sea). As one could imagine, if DDT had not been regulated and banned in the United States, then the country would have lost its majestic national bird to pesticide poisoning. This shows that pesticides are extremely harmful to wildlife and can cause detrimental damage not only to the animal itself, but to its