Pesticides kill. That’s what they are designed to do. They kill the “pests” that they are supposed to, but they result in tremendous collateral destruction of non-targeted soil invertebrates and insects, including pollinators. 

The harm, that pesticides do doesn’t end there. They also pollute the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil in which we grow our food.

And yet, in the United States, we use a billion pounds of pesticides*, every year. That is a truly frightening amount of killer chemicals with which we poison our soil, air and water, every year. Think about the cumulative effect and think about yourself, your family, your children, friends and colleagues. Those poisons in our environment are also poisoning people and all other living things. *The term pesticides includes insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides.

Pesticides are used as sprays, granules, soil drenches and probably in other forms as well. The harm they do to non-targeted creatures is extensive. For example, they kill soil organisms that keep soil aerated, increase soil fertility and make nutrients available to crops. Without healthy soil, we cannot grow food. 

Simple as that. 

Herbicides are so widely used that we all probably have some in our bodies. The Centers for Disease Control found the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup) in 87 percent of 650 children tested. That should scare us all.