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Who Cares? Paragraphs

//Pesticides in Agriculture// People should be able to live on the Earth without fear of inhaling or ingesting toxic chemicals. However, pesticides have been used for years on farms, and leave remnants of the chemicals not only in the agriculture grown, but in the water and soil that is used on the farm ( Crépet). This means that even when people make an active effort to avoid pesticides by eating organic food, they can still be affected by the toxins in them. It makes sense that things that are toxic to other living things could possibly be toxic to humans as well. In fact, it is known that pesticides are a risk to human health, and studies are done to analyze how and how much they affect people (Crépet). While small amounts of these toxins may have little to no effect on our bodies, repeat exposure can result in cancer, immune system dysfunction, and other diseases (Saadi). It can even affect fertility and fetus development (Saadi). It is ridiculous that chemicals that have been proven to be so dangerous to our friends, family, and children are still used to aid in food production.

Crépet, A. et al. “The PERICLES Research Program: An Integrated Approach to Characterize the Combined Effects of Mixtures of Pesticide Residues to Which the French Population Is Exposed.” //Toxicology// 313.2–3 (2013): 83–93. //ScienceDirect//. Web. 3 Feb. 2014. Saadi, Habib Shojaei, and Mohammad Abdollahi. “The Importance of Pesticides Effects on Human Reproduction in Farmers.” //International Journal of Pharmacology// 8.6 (2012): 467–469. //CrossRef//. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.

// Industrial Meat Production // As the population grows, so does the demand for meat. Unfortunately, this means that humans can no longer use traditional methods of farming to product enough meat for the growing populace and instead must turn to industrial production of animals (Montossi). While there is debate over the ethics of treating animals in cruel ways, one can objectively speak of the energy of producing meat versus vegetable protein. Up to twenty percent of a herd of sheep can be wasted (Montossi). Not only is that a waste of life, think of all the other energy that is put into those animals that is wasted! The food, which is not fed to humans but fed to the sheep. It needs to be transported to the farm, so there is energy wasted in the truck or train that moves the food. There is the time spent taking care of those sheep, when the farmer could be spending his time on more effective things. In fact, the energy spent on producing one calorie of animal protein is far more than the energy spent on producing that calorie in vegetable protein, due all the increases in transportation and food costs. While it may not work for everyone to immediately become vegetarians, the effect of meat on the environment is something to think about.

Montossi, F. et al. “Sustainable Sheep Production and Consumer Preference Trends: Compatibilities, Contradictions, and Unresolved Dilemmas.” //Meat Science// 95.4 (2013): 772–789. //ScienceDirect//. Web. 3 Feb. 2014. “Carbon Footprint of Food Graphic.” //The Daily Green//. N. p., n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.