The
application of pesticides and fertilizers to crops is used in intensive farming
to increase production. There are consequences to using these fertilizers and
pesticides. The workers exposed to these pesticides are at extreme health risk.
The pesticides are proven to cause reproductive problems as well as cancer to
those exposed to them. The United Nations Environment Programme states that
approximately “18,000” people around the world will die of pesticide poisoning
each year.
I
would like to tell a story about farmer named Jerry Vann. Jerry Vann is a 58-year-old
farmer who is dying because of exposure to pesticides. Jerry grew up on a farm
and loved the farming lifestyle. He left the farm to go to college but
eventually dropped out and married his high school sweat-heart. They went on to
have kids, and that is when Jerry went back to farming.Eventually there was huge increase in
the amount of farmers using pesticides and fertilizers. Jerry could see that it
was increasing their crop production so he decided to use them as well. The
companies producing the pesticides didn’t know the side effects at this time,
nobody did. Jerry started to use the chemical organophosphate on his cotton crops. After he started to use this
chemical he noticed changes in his health. Jerry kept going to the doctor but
nobody could figure out what was going on. Eventually they did tests on his
brain and found out he had peripheral neuropathy. This meant his outer nervous
system was dying.
Jerry is now dying and the doctors don’t know how much time he has left.
He will be leaving behind his beautiful family because of these chemicals. The
use of these pesticides us unnatural and very dangerous to the workers using
them. For Jerry’s complete story visit http://www.getipm.com/articles/farmer.html
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