Effect of Atrazine Pesticides Usage

In the agricultural world, the term pesticide is used as a general term to refer to a variety of chemical solutions used in the farm to control all kinds of pests. It is used to refer to plan growth regulators, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides, nematicides, and molluscicides among others. However, some insecticides like organochlorine were banned or rather restricted in most of the industrialized nations. The banned of organochlorine led to a rise of other synthetic insecticides such as organophosphates, carbamates as well as pyrethroids, and the development of fungicides and herbicides contributed mainly to the control of pest as well as the drastic increase in agricultural output. The concept of the invention of the pesticide was that it was expected to be lethal to the target pest and be mild or unreactive to target species such as man. However, since their development, this has not been the case the controversial use and abuse if the pesticide has been on the rise. A farmer in the most nation are using more and more of this harmful chemicals arrogantly assuming that is little is good then more of it will be better. Its abuse has wrecked havoc in the human being as well as other life forms. Atrazine as a pesticide falls in the herbicide category. It is used to eradicate as well as stopping post and pre emergent braod leaf weeds in crops such as maize, sorghum, sugarcane, pine, lupines, and eucalyptus (Zweig, 2013). The paper will discuss the use of atrazine pesticide in the USA and its effects on the environment.

Discussion

Benefits

The use of pesticide has its advantages and demerits. However, the disadvantages outweigh the merits. Atrazine is a selective herbicide that is most of the time sprayed on the bare piece of land before the cultivation at the beginning of the planting season for the primary purpose of killing weeds. The herbicide is over used in the United States. Over sixty million pounds of the product is utilized in the nation mainly on corn crop annually. The use of atrazine was banned in 2004, but Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lifted the ban in 2009. However, the compound is considered as the primary contaminant in the drinking water in the United States of America. Upon testing of both the ground and surface water, atrazine is the most frequently detected compound. However, EPA lifted the ban on the herbicide because they claim that the concentration of the compound in water was way below the federal drinking water standards. Despite the US negotiating the use of atrazine, the European Union has banned its use since they have termed it as harmful and hazardous. However, they are beneficial to some extent.

First, they Improve productivity (Mitchell, 2014).

Tremendous benefits have been derived from the use of pesticides in the agricultural sector. The use of atrazine as an herbicide in the United States has increased the output and productivity of corn. Even though the growth in productivity has been attributed many other factors the use of herbicides cannot be ignored. The pesticides, in general, have reduced the level of weeds, insect’s pests and diseases, therefore, increasing the productivity. More so most pesticides undergo disintegration to produce metabolite, which is nontoxic to the environment as well as the human beings. Secondly, herbicides provide Protection against crop loss and reduction of yield. Excessive weeds reduce the yield of dry land crops. Severe weed infestation in the plantation especially in the early phases of the crop establishment accounts for a 40 percent yield reduction. More so, the use of atrazine provides economic as well as labor benefits. It selectively kills all the weeds that are targeted quickly as compared to the use of manual or other forms of labor in doing the same job (Mitchell, 2014).

Adverse effects

I strongly stand against the use of Atrazine herbicide in the United States since their negative consequences for much outweigh the benefits. More so, I believe that the Environmental Protection Agency ignored factors that are more important while they were lifting the ban on using the herbicide. In support of my argument, atrazine was found to be harmful to both mammals as well as amphibians. The agency for toxic substances and diseases registry (ATSDR) discovered that atrazine affects human health in various ways. First, the compound dissolves into the ground water and when taken in it alters the way the reproductive system of human being work. More so, the exposure has been associated with the low weight of the fetus as well as the heart, limbs, and urinary defects. Also, the various congenital disabilities such as gastroschisis are associated with atrazine toxification of drinking water. It has been confirmed that the compound is an endocrine disruptor (Albanito et al., 2015). It has the risk of preterm delivery as well as intrauterine growth obstruction. Secondly, atrazine has a teratogen as well as an estrogen disruptor. Some studies have reported that the use of atrazine contaminates surface waters, which in term affect the male frog in such a way that it causes demasculinization of the northern frogs especially in a low concentration of the compound. During various studies, it was found out that the exposure to atrazine turned male tadpoles into hermaphrodite such that they could have a genetic mutation to enable them have both male and female reproductive parts. More so various studies have indicated that exposure of tadpoles at an early stage of development in life they develop deformed hearts, digestive systems, and impaired kidneys. The malformation of the tissues was due to programmed cell death caused by the exposure to atrazine although the exact mechanism has not been discussed anywhere. More so it was found that one out of ten frogs that are exposed to the compound in the herbicides are turned into a female while 75 percent of the male frog is rendered sterile (Ehrsam et al., 2016).

Conclusion

In conclusion, pesticides have some benefits, which include increase n productivity as well as a reduction in yield loss. However, the adverse effect of atrazine to be particular is a clear indication of the fact that pesticides are harmful and are not to be used. The herbicide has drastic effects on the environment at large. As support for the sustainability of the development of the economy, there arises a need to convey a serious message that prevention of harmful health effects and promotion of better health is profitable to the investment for employers as well as employees. Finally basing on the limited cognitive knowledge obtained from secondary sources, which most will dismiss as the inferential information it remains a fact that the domain of atrazine illustrates a definite ambiguity in cases where mammals, as well as amphibians, are undergoing a life-long exposure. It is therefore evident that there is an urgent need to develop health education sessions basing on the knowledge, practices, and aptitude and to distribute them within the society to eliminate or rather reduce the exposure to the pesticide.

Reference

Albanito, L., Lappano, R., Madeo, A., Chimento, A., Prossnitz, E. R., Cappello, A. R., ... & Maggiolini, M. (2015). Effects of atrazine on estrogen receptor α–and G protein–coupled receptor 30–mediated signaling and proliferation in cancer cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts. Environmental health perspectives, 123(5), 493.

Ehrsam, M., Knutie, S. A., & Rohr, J. R. (2016). The herbicide atrazine induces hyperactivity and compromises tadpole detection of predator chemical cues. Environmental toxicology and chemistry, 35(9), 2239-2244.

Mitchell, P. D. (2014). Market‐level assessment of the economic benefits of atrazine in the United States. Pest management science, 70(11), 1684-1696.

Zweig, G. (Ed.). (2013). Principles, Methods, and General Applications: Analytical Methods for Pesticides, Plant Growth Regulators, and Food Additives (Vol. 1). Elsevier.