Pesticides

Pesticides are chemical and biological a_______ utilized to control pests, some of which are insects, mice, weeds, fungi, bacteria, and viruses. The most common usage of pesticides is to protect c______ from harmful insects, yet they are not limited to that activity. Due to the fact that they are designed to kill or limit the activity of certain organisms, pesticides constitute a danger to all living things, including large animals and humans. As such, the use of pesticides has been a matter of debate for a long time. It c______ upon the benefits of using pesticides versus the harmful side effects they may have on other organisms as well as the environment. (→ Pesticides may unintentionally / intentionally cause harm to animals other than pests.

During the late 1900s, approximately 2.5 million tons of pesticides were used around the world at a cost of roughly twenty billion dollars each year. The j__________ for the high / low  cost was that those employing the pesticides benefitted an even greater amount. One study estimated that for every dollar spending / spent spraying crops with pesticides, close to four dollars’ worth of crops were saved worldwide. By protecting food crops from harmful pests, pesticides increased crop y______. This made fewer / more  people suffer from s________ or m_________. Without pesticides, some experts believe that worldwide crop yields would decline around ten percent, and, in some extreme cases, farmers might experience the complete l______ of their crops, which could lead to widespread food shortages and famines in some regions.(= It is possible that fewer / more crops would grow and that many people would starve if there were / had been no pesticides being used.)

Without their usage, it is highly likely that ships would be sailing the long way around South America to get from one ocean to another as the canal never would have been completed.

Another frequently cited benefit of pesticides is that they destroy organisms carrying deadly diseases. The mosquito has plagued humanity with diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, and dengue fever for millennia. During the construction of the Panama Canal, for instance, thousands of workers were sickened and killed by mosquito-borne illnesses.❶ Pesticides later managed to reduce the mosquito population and enabled the canal to be built of saving countless lives. (어색한 곳?)

→ The author discusses the Panama Canal in order to

a. state that pesticides could have prevented thousands of workers from becoming sick.

b. describe the effect that pesticides had on it during its construction.

❷In 1939, the discovery of the insecticidal p_________ of the chemical agent DDT led to its widespread use to kill mosquitoes to prevent malaria. ❸But by the late 1960s, accusations that DDT harmed the environment led to its banning in nearly every nation worldwide. ❹This resulted in / from  mosquito-borne illnesses, particularly malaria, killing millions of people in subsequent years since DDT was the only affordable method of eliminating mosquitoes in many countries. In 2004， the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants permitted DDT to be used for disease-carrying insect control. This led to a r_________ in its usage, particularly in Africa, which has caused fewer people to get malaria.(→DDT was banned in many countries because there were accusations that it was causing d_______ to the environment.)

(           ), the benefits of pesticides are more than countered by their harmful effects.

(           ), when farmers spray their crops with pesticides, both the crops and the environment must be cleansed of the chemicals. (           ), in the late 1900s, it was estimated that roughly one million people around the world were harmed by pesticides in some way each year while about 20,000 of them died directly due to pesticide p__________. Some typical side effects of those e_________ to pesticides include irritated eyes, skin rashes, and respiratory problems. Long-term exposure can harm both male and female reproductive systems. It can also cause pregnant women to suffer miscarriages. More severe effects of pesticides include causing life-threatening illnesses such as diabetes and cancer. The majority of those harmed by pesticides are the workers who apply them, especially if they fail to wear protective clothing and masks.

- They are responsible for both miscarriages and babies born with deformations. T/F

They have killed around one million people ever since they started being used. T/F

They may cause people to get illnesses of both a physical and mental nature. T/F

- The people that they have harmed the most are those who work with them. T/F

The environmental damage caused by pesticides is more difficult to witness because the effects either do not m_________ for long periods of time or difficult to observe.어색한 곳? For instance, many pesticides seep into the soil underneath the crops they are sprayed on. There, they may enter both the roots of the crops and the groundwater beneath the soil. Plant size may be reduced by exposure to pesticides. A plant’s ability to produce seeds that g_________ may also be affected. Farm animals and wild animals a_______ the pesticides when consuming these plants, and the poisons are passed up the food chain to humans and apex predators, which causes / cause  them harm. The end result is a tradeoff of sorts: Saving food from pests and killing deadly disease-carrying insects help humans live longer, but humans and other animals are eventually harmed in other ways.

그러하듯이

=focuses

=rationalization

시거무가‘s

간리게격

= If it were not for

to cause pain, suffering, or trouble to someone, especially for a long period of time

= quality, characteristic

1. We're acting as agents for Mr Watson.

2.Soap is a cleansing agent.

3.Technological advances are the chief agents of change.

잔류성 유기 오염물질

cleanse oneself of sin by bathing in the holy river

dilemma / enigma

delay / compromise