"The more clearly we can focus our attention on
the wonders and realities of the universe about us,
the less taste we shall have for destruction."

-- Rachel Carson © 1954

Pesticide Overview
The lawn, garden, and household chemicals we use to eliminate pests include some of the most hazardous materials in our communities. These materials are known as pesticides. We use them to kill insects, weeds, rodents, and fungal diseases, and they can be toxic to children, pets, wildlife, beneficial insects, and beneficial plants. Pesticides are also used extensively for commercial purposes. In fact, agricultural lands occupy over 50 percent of the United States and account for 70 percent of pesticide use. However, homeowners share a significant portion of the introduction of pesticides to the environment. For example, study results show that homeowners can use several times as much pesticide per acre as farmers on their lawns and gardens (abcbirds.org, 2002).

Pesticides occupy a unique position among the many chemicals used in every day modern life because they are deliberately added to the environment for the purpose of killing or injuring some life form. Ideally, we want them to act upon only our intended target organism because pesticides can be valuable tools for controlling diseases and non-native plant and animal species. Unfortunately, most of the chemicals used as pesticides are not highly selective and are generally toxic to many nontarget animals and plants. They also indirectly impact bird health and populations by eliminating food sources and valuable habitat.

Consideration of bird health when using pesticides is vital to our efforts in leading more sustainable lives. Birds are not only worthy of protection in their own right, but they are also indicators of the health of our environment because they are particularly sensitive to many pesticides. For example, birds are 100 times more sensitive than mammals to the commonly used insecticide diazinon (www.abcbirds.org, 2002) [hyperlink to diazinon profile]. The sensitivity of birds and their role as ambassadors of the natural world was so timely brought to the attention of the public by Rachel Carson in Silent Spring. She warned people about the decline in some bird species brought about by DDT [hyperlink to DDT profile] and other pesticides and extrapolated these impacts to other wildlife and our own health.

Far from declining since the publication of Ms. Carson's book (1962), pesticide use in the U.S., with respect to pounds applied and number of active ingredients registered, has actually increased (www.abcbirds.org, 2002). Usage of conventional pesticides on farms increased from about 400 million pounds in the mid-1960s during Ms. Carson's time to a peak of nearly 850 million pounds 20 years later, primarily due to the widespread adoption of herbicides in crop production and in care of lawns and gardens. Since the 1980s, annual pesticide usage in the U.S. has cycled up and down slightly from the peak level, with a high of 970 million pounds in 1997. This rate accounts for one fourth of the world usage (http://www.epa.gov, 2002). Even with our knowledge of the potential health effects of pesticides, both in wildlife and humans, and the educated warnings of many scientists, we continue as a society to introduce enormous quantities of these chemicals annually to our environment.