by Richard "Bugman" Fagerlund
Daily Lobo Columnist
"What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth."
-Chief Seattle
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Occasionally some people ask me to "spray" an office or room on campus in to control bugs.
I rarely do this, as pesticides can be more detrimental than the bugs they are suppose to kill. Don't get me wrong, some pesticide usage is necessary on campus and in society, but not to the extent they are presently used.
In Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, she warned us about the problems widespread use of chemical pesticides would cause. As a direct result of her effort, President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 and, ultimately, DDT was banned in 1972.
Nevertheless, our use of pesticides is growing exponentially every year.
We use more than twice as many pesticides now than we did in 1962 when Silent Spring was published, although the EPA finally banned another insidious pesticide, chlorpyrifos. Chlorpyrifos, commonly known as Dursban (in consumer use) and Lorsban (in agricultural use), is an organophosphate, as is diazinon and malathion. Organophosphates inhibit the normal functioning of the nervous system in living organisms, from insects to humans. There are between 800 and 1,000 products containing chlorpyrifos and approximately 1,000 people are poisoned each year by the pesticide.
Pesticides are used in almost all public buildings, offices, golf courses, schools, food establishments, hotels, motels, hospitals and private homes as well as in agriculture. Residues in our food and environment reflect many years of pesticide usage.
There are continuing problems with runoff from agricultural applications, ground water contamination and disposal of unused pesticides as hazardous waste.
Keep in mind that numerous studies indicate that pesticides may persist indoors for long periods of time.
Since sunlight, rain and microbes are unable to break indoor pesticides down or carry them away, pesticide residues last much longer than outdoors. Some pesticides can persist indoors for months or even years after application. Indoor air concentrations of several kinds of pesticides may be more than 10 to 100 times higher than outdoor concentrations. Even non-persistent pesticides last much longer indoors where they are not susceptible to degradation from environmental factors.
A major use (or misuse) of pesticides is in treating cotton for pests. Consider that at least nine pests, (boll weevils, tobacco budworms, cotton aphids, cotton fleahoppers, cotton leafworms, cotton leaf-perforators, lygus bugs, pink bollworms and thrips), do serious damage to cotton. Then consider that over two-dozen pesticides , are used, or have been used on cotton to control those pests. This should make anyone afraid to wear cotton shorts.
Now consider that only two pests - the European corn borer and hemp borer - are serious pests on hemp and they generally don't require any pesticides to control. Many other insects feed on hemp, but only do minimal damage and similarly require no pesticides.
Having considered the two statements above, you have to wonder why hemp is not grown all over the country, as it would be a very valuable crop. Hemp belongs to the family Moraceae (mo-RAY-see-ay). It is a herbaceous annual with a woody stem and reaches a height of 19 feet. Hemp stalks have a woody core surrounded by a bark layer containing long fibers.
Hemp breeders have developed varieties with increased stem fiber content and decreased levels of delta-9-tetrahydro-cannibol (THC), the psychoactive chemical in marijuana and there lies the problem, marijuana.
Politicians have made marijuana illegal based on private prejudices and their insatiable need to protect us from ourselves, rather than good science. Alcohol and tobacco have killed many thousands of people, but they are legal substances, while no one has ever died from a marijuana overdose, yet it is an illegal substance. Should the use of marijuana be legalized, or decriminalized, and by extension, the growing of hemp?
Absolutely. There is no question about it in my mind.
Wouldn't it be much better to use a product that requires almost no pesticides to grow instead of one that is drenched in chemicals?
I have been around pesticides for over 30 years and I am in pretty good health. My kids aren't too funny looking (well, maybe my son is a little weird), but that doesn't mean pesticides are safe.
Different people react differently and I would rather not use pesticides unless absolutely necessary. Pesticides are designed to kill, but they often kill the wrong organisms. We will continue to use the least toxic methods available to control pests on campus.
If you have any pest questions you can email me at fagerlun@unm.edu, call me on my cell at 440-6384 or stop me when you see me wandering around campus.
