GET INFORMATION
The use of toxic pesticides to manage pest problems has become a common practice around the world. Pesticides are used almost everywhere -- not only in agricultural fields, but in homes, parks, schools, buildings, forests, and roads. It is difficult to find somewhere where pesticides aren't used -- from the can of bug spray under your kitchen sink to the airplane crop dusting acres of farmland, our world is filled with pesticides. In addition, pesticides can be found in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink.
What are Pesticides?
Pesticides are toxic substances deliberately added to our environment to kill living things. This includes substances that kill weeds (herbicides), insects (insecticides), fungus (fungicides), rodents (rodenticides), and others. In the words of the Environmental Protection Agency:
"Pesticides are not 'safe.' They are produced specifically because they are toxic to something."
-U.S. EPA, Citizen's Guide to Pesticides, 1987
The Pesticide Problem
When Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring in 1962, she raised public awareness about the effects of pesticide use on our health and our environment. However, thirty years after Carson drew attention to the health and environmental impacts of DDT, use of equally hazardous pesticides has only increased.
-In the last 30 years, pesticide use has increased 50%.
-In 1995, 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides were used in the United States.
-Between 1991 and 1995, pesticide use in California rose 31%.
-In the same time span, use of pesticides that cause cancer rose 129%.
The dramatic increase of pesticide use has come at a price. We now know that pesticide use can be linked to a wide range of public health and environmental concerns. Potentially more troubling is the vast amount that we still do not know about pesticides and their impact on people - especially children - and our environment.
RISING TOXIC TIDE: PESTICIDE USE IN CALIFORNIA 1991-1995
For more information about the disturbing increase in pesticide use in California, read the ground-breaking 1997 report by Pesticide Action Network and Californians for Pesticide Reform.
NEW! PESTICIDE USE REPORTING, 1991-1997
The latest data from California's Department of Pesticide Regulation shows that the use of the most hazardous pesticides is still on the rise. This includes pesticides that cause cancer, reproductive harm and other serious health problems.