Title: Pesticides 101 | Pesticide Action Network
Headings: Pesticides are used all around us, in homes and gardens, schools, parks and agricultural fields.
Pesticides are used all around us, in homes and gardens, schools, parks and agricultural fields.
What are pesticides?
What is the “pesticide treadmill?”
Which rules govern pesticides?
Exposure & impacts

Content: As "superbugs" and "superweeds" develop in response to widespread and continous use of chemicals, a farmer will spend more on pesticides each year just to keep crop losses at a standard rate. The recent introduction of crops genetically engineered for use with the herbicide 2,4-D provides a clear example of the pesticide treadmill. Widespread planting of RoundUp Ready crops and the associated application of RoundUp prompted weeds to develop resistance to the product. Resistant strains of "Pigweed" for instance, reportedly now grow with such vigor in southern cotton fields that the weeds can "stop a combine in its tracks." Farmers are forced to return to use of 2,4-D — an antiquated, drift-prone chemical clearly linked to cancer and reproductive harms. Overall, pesticide resistance is increasing. In the 1940s, U.S. farmers lost seven percent of their crops to pests. Since the 1980s, loss has increased to 13 percent, even though more pesticides are being used. Between 500 and 1,000 insect and weed species have developed pesticide resistance since 1945. Rachel Carson clearly predicted the treadmill phenomenon in her 1962 book Silent Spring.