Hazards of Pesticides

Why do I focus on the hazards of pesticides? There are several reasons.

1 – Pesticides are hazardous to people when they are misused and even in cases where they are properly used. The most common pesticide group used are synthetic pyrethroids and studies have found that they can cause children to develop leukemia and lymphoma and they can cause pregnant women to have autistic children. These pesticides are frequently sprayed along the baseboards in homes and businesses, which is ridiculous.

2 – Pesticides when generically used outside will kill a lot of bugs and that will affect animals that eat insects. Lizards and some mammals can get sick and so can many songbirds that eat insects. In fact, songbirds that eat insects are protected in NM and generically spraying pesticides can cause legal problems. This includes all insect eating birds represented by the several families of bluebirds, including the western and mountain bluebirds; also bobolinks, catbirds, chickadees, cuckoos, which includes the chaparral bird or roadrunner, flickers, flycatchers, grosbeaks, hummingbirds, kinglets, martins, meadowlarks, nighthawks or bull bats, nuthatches, orioles, robins, shrikes, swallows, swifts, tanagers, titmice, thrushes, vireos, warblers, waxwings, whippoorwills, woodpeckers, wrens, and all other perching birds which feed entirely or chiefly on insects. Any of these birds could be impacted by destroying the environment where they live. Along with songbirds and other animals killed from eating insects killed by pesticides as mentioned above, the pesticides kill many beneficial insects as well. How many bees are killed when pesticides are generically sprayed to kill mosquitoes? Small birds in nests are killed and bats, which are very good at mosquito control are run out of the area. Many herbicide applications kill beneficial plants as well as so-called weeds. These beneficial “weeds” include plants that are good for bees, butterflies and other insects, and even some that are edible by humans.

3 – Herbicides that are generically used can be dangerous, particularly herbicides containing glyphosate. This would include Roundup and RangerPro. A person who used Roundup and was exposed to it developed cancer and sued Monsanto, the manufacturer of Roundup and won and was awarded $289 million. There are safe alternatives to these toxic herbicides.

4 – Pesticides are often used carelessly and they are very poorly regulated in many areas, including New Mexico. There is no reason to use toxic pesticides to control most pests as there are plenty of non-toxic methods available. Why used pesticides to control roaches when you can use beer and duct tape. Why use pesticides to control ants as you can use various baits. You can even use non-toxic products to control termites. XT2000 Orange Oil is very effective when used against drywood termites and Altriset is a very good product to use for subterranean termites. Most pests can be controlled with non-toxic products.

Basically, pesticides should never be used in public or commercial establishments or in homes during this coronavirus pandemic.  The pesticides can compromise our immune systems and make use more vulnerable to health issues, including coronavirus.  I will help anyone who has pests in their home or business by recommending non-toxic solutions for pest management. You can contact me at askthebugman2013@gmail.com.