Pesticide usage is a topic of great controversy. It started with a book called Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. This book said a pesticide called Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT)  was destroying the environment, and claimed that in the future DDT would cause mass extinctions of birds. This evolved into a controversy over the usage of other pesticides, with supporters arguing that it makes crops cheaper, improves crop quality, and protects humans, and detractors claiming it damages the environment and poisons animals. This paper will prove pesticides are beneficial to humans and various other animals not considered pests.

One reason pesticides should be used is that they protect humans and other animals. Over a million people die every year from diseases like malaria, which can be prevented by pesticides. The pesticides kill the parasites that spread this disease, preventing it from spreading to humans. The number of people being saved from these disease by pesticides is vastly higher than the number of people who die from pesticides.[1]

Another reason pesticides should be used is that they make crops cheaper. Every year, billions of dollars worth of crops are destroyed by pests.[2] Pesticides kill off pests that damage crops, increasing crop yield, since the supply increases, the prices decrease. While it is true that using pesticides costs money, the increase in crop yield counters that, meaning that prices still decrease.

A different reason why pesticides are beneficial is that they improve the quality of crops. The explanation for this is simple,pesticides prevent crops from getting damaged by pests, while organic farming relies on humans who will occasionally, allow damaged or diseased crops to be sold due to human error. This causes conventionally grown crops to be higher quality.

Some people claim that pesticides are dangerous, however, there are only five states where the percentage of employed people poisoned by pesticides exceeds 0.00000389%.[3] Furthermore, in 19 states, the percentage of people poisoned by pesticides is below 0.00000185%.

Pesticide usage is a highly controversial issue. While it is obvious that pesticides are toxic to some organisms, there is no evidence that pesticides are dangerous to humans. Regardless, pesticides should continue to be used on crops, unless there is clear evidence that proves that pesticides are dangerous, since the benefits of cheaper, higher quality, and safer crops so vastly outweigh the proven issues.