Overuse of Pest Control Chemicals Promotes Evolution of Pesticide Resistance. When pesticides are applied, the people who are most resistant are the most resistant. When pesticides are applied, people who are more resistant are more likely to survive. If their resistance to the chemical has a genetic basis, they will in turn pass on these genes to their progeny so that the population becomes more resistant over time.
In other words, chemical pest control acts as a type of artificial selection for pesticide resistance. According to Essential Environment, by 2000, there were more than 2,700 known cases of resistance of 540 pest species to more than 300 pesticides, including the diamond-backed moth and the green peach aphid, which are agricultural pests. One of the main advantages of chemical pest control is its effectiveness. Most chemicals act very quickly and, when properly selected, are very effective in eliminating pests.
Chemicals can be used to control or kill specific pests on a farm. These methods include physical control, biological control, use of biopesticides and, if necessary, the use of safer chemical pesticides. It's easy to eliminate the use of chemicals, until pesticide and herbicide professionals are actually vetted, now and in the past. The foods that are produced will be pesticide-free (or low in pesticides, since the food may have absorbed chemicals distributed by other people).
The most popular solution to this problem lies in an alternative method to chemical pesticides, biological control. Unlike some chemical pesticides, pyrethrins break down rapidly in the environment and are said to be non-residual chemicals. These are chemical pesticides that are distributed in powder form and require mixing with water. If the resistance developed is based on genetics, the future generation will not be controlled with that chemical.
The biggest advantage of pesticides is that they are readily available and very easy to use, unlike alternative methods, such as biological control and other similar methods, which can take a long time to plan and often do not have an immediate effect on pests. The use of chemicals can help a farmer eliminate the entire pest population almost instantly simply by administering the chemical into the environment occupied by the pest. More specifically, the term agrochemicals includes herbicides (chemicals that are toxic to weeds), pesticides (chemicals that are toxic to insects), fungicides (chemicals that are toxic to fungi, a group of organisms that cause diseases in plants and animals), rodenticides ( chemicals toxic to rodents) and antibiotics given to livestock. This makes it easy for farmers to control virtually any pest that uses chemicals, as they can easily buy them at their local points of sale.
Chemical pesticides based on emulsifiable concentrates have no residual effect on fruits and vegetables. In addition, some people are now willing to accept fruits that have not been treated with chemical pesticides and that do not look perfect, as long as they are safe to eat. Another problem with using chemicals to control an organism's population is that a pest can become resistant to a pesticide. There are no toxic chemicals to store or worry about children or animals discovering stored pesticides.
However, the real revolution of chemical pesticides occurred during the 18th and 19th centuries, when the industrial revolution required far more efficient pest treatments in terms of scale, effectiveness and speed. .
