Artificial Pesticides and the Technology Developed to Combat the Influence on Societal and Environmental Health

Around the world the use of artificially produced chemicals used as pesticides have been widely accepted to alleviate the cost and work of growing food. Chemicals, like DDT a widely used pesticide banned in Europe and the United States for its known carcinogenic effects, have greatly increased crop sizes. For India, a wide consumer of DDT product, it has decreased the loss of income due to crop loss, and has expanded the crop industry business despite of it being banned 4-5 years ago. In areas like Tamil Nadu, India, where crops are the only means of income for rural farming families, DDT has become essential for the survival of farming for profit communities,making it available through illegal manufacturers and dealers. However, these chemicals greatly affect their environment in a vicious cycle that inevitably also disrupts human health and development. With the use of advanced agricultural technology, Tamil Nadu can reduce its dependence on DDT. The following four step implementation process uses an integrated approach without the use of DDT; Use of predatory insects, crop-rotation technique, Bio-pesticides like Neem oil and beneficial microbes, and genetically modified plants for natural defense mechanism. The knowledge of these steps for battling insects naturally could benefit agricultural areas like Tamil Nadu, where many farmers have little access to education on new agricultural methods, without the use of dangerous chemicals. Values and the society’s culture would be taken into consideration to help implement new crop production education, while also keeping the costs comparable to current agricultural practice. In this way, DDT can be eliminated from the agricultural environment in India, by using improved technological methods whilst improving the health of the ecology and uplifting the outlook of a community's income and tradition.