The negative effects of pesticides

The effect of pesticides on humans:

All scientific and medical statistics have shown (that the tissues of the dead before the discovery of DDT) in 1942, it does not contain any trace of pesticides). However, after that date, it was found:

• Food contains increasing percentages with concentrations that rise year after year of pesticides.
• Meat and products derived from animal fats contain the highest concentration of pesticide residues (Allen Fat soluble pesticides).
• Most types of pesticides are not affected by cooking because they are highly stable compounds that are not affected by heat
• Therefore, the majority of pesticides that enter the body through food (milk is a food that is rarely consumed). shall be free of pesticides.

The dangerous effects of pesticides on humans are as follows:

1.The accumulation of pesticides in the living tissues led to testicular decay and affected the sperm and reduced motility, which led to the non-conjugation of the sperm with the egg, and thus lack of fertilization (sterility).   

Pesticides destroy the ability of the cell to divide naturally in humans, and thus changes occur in the genes that carry hereditary traits, and thus new traits appear in generations (mutation) or kill the cell directly and become malignant (cancerous) cells.                                                                                                                                      

2.The liver is one of the most important organs that control the basic activities in the body such as the digestion of nutrients (storing sugar - building protein - maintaining the level of cholesterol in the body). Unfortunately, as a result of the accumulation of pesticides in the liver, it damages it and reduces its ability to perform its functions, and thus the spread of hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver failure.   

3.Insecticides (all chlorocarbon pesticides) also play an important role in affecting the nervous system directly, especially the cerebellum and cerebral cortex, which leads to:                                    

• Heaviness and pain in the extremities, a sense of muscle fatigue and nervous tension.
• Feeling of insomnia, restlessness and cramps. Some of the most toxic insecticides can cause memory loss, insomnia, and nightmares when falling asleep. 
• Permanent damage to nerve tissue occurs, causing psychological distress and paralysis. Feeling withdrawn and schizophrenic. Infertility occurs in birds, animals and humans.

5.  In general, many scientific studies have also shown that there is a strong relationship between the use of pesticides and deformities that occur to children at birth, since pesticides are radiation partners in their effect.

How pesticides transfer to the human body:

• via the respiratory tract.                                                                     
•  through the skin.                                                                                      
• Through food .............. which is the main method that most people do not know.

It leads to the aforementioned diseases (liver failure - cancer - allergies).

Thus, man wrote in the record of his victories over nature (as he sees it from his point of view) a sad record of sabotage and destruction of the environment and himself, the destruction directed not only against the land he inhabits, but also against the living creatures that share life with him.

Types of agricultural Soil pollutants

Chemical Fertilizers 

Nitrogen:

    The main source of nitrogen in agricultural soils is nitrogen Fertilizers, including nitrate fertilizers, urea, ammonium fertilizers and mixed fertilizers. The nitrogen present in the soil is mostly found in organic forms and is therefore not suitable for plants. Therefore, biological processes occur in the soil that convert nitrogen from an organic form to an inorganic form (N-NO3, N-NH4).

It can be absorbed by plants, lost by volatilization or leaching, or transformed into organic components in the bodies of soil microbes.

    As a result of the increased use of nitrogen fertilizers, a large part of it is lost through leaching, and the nitrates lost from the soil through leaching will lead to pollution of groundwater and agricultural drainage water. The loss is as large as possible in sandy lands and few in cultivated lands

Sources of agricultural soil pollution

1. chemical fertilizers

    Egypt is one of the Arab countries that consumes most mineral fertilizers until 2011, when it reached one million tons annually of nitrogen fertilizers and 1251 thousand tons annually of phosphate fertilizers.

    With the intensive farming method, there was a continuous depletion of the nutrients present with the soil, especially nitrogen, and with the limited use of organic fertilizers and the trend towards the use of chemical fertilizers, especially nitrogen, the soil was polluted with nitrates, and then the water was polluted.

  In addition to phosphorus compounds lead to the precipitation of some trace elements

It is present in the agricultural soil that the plant needs for its growth and conversion into compounds that are insoluble in water. Bacteria and other microorganisms present in the soil convert the nitrogenous substances present in it Fertilizers are converted into nitrates and this increases the risk of soil contamination with nitrates. 

At the same time, the plant absorbs part of it and the rest of the rest in the soil and its water. And there is an imbalance between the nutrients inside the plant, which leads to the accumulation of large amounts of nitrates in the leaves and roots, and results in a change in the taste of vegetables and fruits, as well as changes in color and smell.

 2. Chemicals 

Pesticides 

Pesticides affect the microorganisms that live in the soil and die

  Some of them, such as ants, worms, and some insects, are natural enemies of many pests

Agricultural crops. The chances of contamination with pesticides inside agricultural greenhouses increase with high humidity and high temperature.

Environmental damage comes from chemical pesticides. Most of them are slow-dissolving cyclic compounds that contain heavy elements with a high degree of toxicity, and their breakdown products increase the concentration and accumulation of chlorine, phosphorus, and nitrates beyond the allowable limit in the agricultural environment.

•   Environmental pollution with pesticides helps destroy the liver. Where pesticide residues are transmitted in the soil and on plants to human food, such as vegetables, fruits, etc., causing many chronic hepatitis. One of the indications of the seriousness of the situation is the continuous increase in the numbers

Patients with liver and kidney failure in Egypt from environmental pollution with agricultural pesticides.