According to the Environmental Protection Agency,
“pesticides” include products developed to kill anything considered a pest —
insects, worms, plants, fungi, and rodents. It’s worth examining how much risk
to the planet and our health we are willing to pose for the elimination of a
plant or bug.
The market for these chemicals grew after World War II.
Their indiscriminate use was marked by a hopeful naiveté that chemical
application targeting dandelions, beetles and other "pests" would do
away with arduous yard work without consequences.
Then, as now, Americans believed that “if a product could be
sold, it must be safe, (and) embraced the new chemical products for the home
and yard,” according to historian Virginia Jenkins. She quotes a 1947 article
that stated DDT was considered “effective, yet safe to use.” By the 1950s,
“(advertisements) no longer told the consumer which chemicals were in the
products; the consumer was simply assured that the weed killer was easy to use
and effective.”
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