Pesticides, Poverty, and Poisoning

In part two of Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus Alejo gets directly sprayed with pesticides while in the height of a tree, picking it’s ripe fruits. After this contact with the pesticide or insecticide, Alejo explains how he feels as though he cannot breath right after the spray of the poison gets on him. Extreme pain envelops over Alejo’s body as the poison gets onto his pores. For the next few weeks Alejo gets no better, although some days are better than others.

After reading about Alejo’s conditions not getting any better in part three, I wanted to do a little research on pesticides, and what kind of effects they have on the human body, when in contact with one another. I found out that there is three categorizes to pesticide poisoning. Mild, moderate, and severe. Alejo had all the symptoms of the severe pesticide poisoning, with symptoms including any:

  • inability to breathe
  • chemical burns on skin
  • respiratory distress
  • loss of reflexes
  • uncontrollable muscle twitching
  • unconsciousness
  • convulsions

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Organic Pesticides

After taking about the controversy initiated by Rachel Carson over the exploitation of DDT and other synthetic insecticides, I became curious about current pesticide use in farming. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) released a document showing both the US and world market for all pesticide use for 2006 and 2007. The cumulative amount of money spent world wide for both years was $75,257,000,000 with the US contributing 33%. Agriculture is the main use for pesticides and total pounds of pesticide use for agriculture decreased approximately 7% from 2000 to 2007. Having said that, 877 million pounds of pesticides are still being used in agricultural practices.

It is important to discern between different types of pesticides as they have varying levels of toxicity. Organophosphates are particularly dangerous as they act as a neurotoxin and effect brain function. These types of pesticides are also on the decline, however, 33 million pounds are still being used annually and levels of organophosphates are still detected in food and the bodies of most humans.

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