Effects of Pesticide Imidacloprid

This seems to be a trend in some of my blog posts but it is an idea that I really am interested in and I figured having a relatively cohesive theme to a few of my posts might not be such a bad thing.

In this article that I found it discusses how the pesticide imidacloprid, which is actually considered to be a neurotoxin, is used to kill aphids on plants. This toxin most widely effects drinking water but the relevance of this article is simply to show some of the effects of what pesticides can do to the body in general.

Recently this chemical has been linked to “colony collapse disorder” which basically means that it is making entire colonies of our honeybees disappear. The reason that it does this so rapidly and effectively is because it is highly efficient at going from the soil to the plants pollen and nectar supplies. If it is toxic to bees at very low levels so how can this be good for humans?

The article also talks about how this chemical has a half life of six months, which means that it will not merely die out or dissipate quickly. The focus is mainly on how this particular pesticide effects honeybees, but if is effects honeybees there is a good chance that it will effect us as well. We are all living organisms. There is nothing different about the plants that honeybees are interacting with and the fruits and vegetables that we as humans are eating and utilizing on a daily basis. Although it would obviously take a much higher dosage of this chemical to effect us that it would a honeybee it still does not seem like a good idea to be ingesting something that is basically a poison.

I found this article interesting because in the long run it helps to determine why pesticides are inherently bad for our health, what some of the  main concerns are and eventually why it is worth it to buy organic food which contains no pesticides.

http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=13CB8F69DFB37E68&p_docnum=1&p_queryname=1