Since the beginning of time, people have
had a few basic needs...somewhere to live...
and,.. most importantly something to eat.
Nature works in a very delicate balance,
and, one of the biggest challenges we
face is the battle to keep that food supply
plentiful and safe. This short video
discusses the struggles to overcome
these challenges, including the pests that
changed history, early pest control,
regulations to control pests while
safeguarding the food supply,
monitoring the food supply and educating
those who apply pesticides.
Various plants, animals, and other
organisms can threaten our food supply,
along with our health and comfort. When
they pose a threat, we consider them to
be "pests", and their impact is never taken
lightly. In fact throughout our history,
pests have occasionally led to significant
events that have changed our world. For
example, in the 14th century, Bubonic
Plague, or the Black Death, ravaged the
population of Europe. This disease,
carried by fleas in rodents, is
estimated to have killed up to 60% of the
continent's citizens. Untold millions of lives
were lost his illness. The mid-19th
century saw the effects of the Irish
Potato Famine, which dramatically shaped
the population in America. Massive crop
losses led to the deaths of one and a
half million people in Ireland, due to
starvation and related disease. Another
million people emigrated to North
America to avoid such a fate.
At the same time, people have been hard
at work, finding ways to protect food
supplies, as well as human health, through
various means of confronting and
eliminating pests. Ancient Sumerians are
believed to have been using sulfur compounds
kill insects as far back as the 25th
century B.C. By the 17th and 18th
centuries, tobacco, herbs, arsenic and
other plants were being used to fight insects.
The late 19th century saw the
introduction of "Bordeaux mixture", as
a pest control quite by accident.
A farmer used a combination of lime and
copper sulfate an attempt to keep people
from eating the grapes for the vines
close to the road. He also realized that
those grapes had less of a problem with
downy mildew,
a damaging fungus common in grape
vineyards. The industrial age ushered
in mechanical innovations, such as sprayers
which allowed, herbicides, fungicides,
insecticides, and other pesticides to be
applied in various formulations,
including liquid, mist, and even granular. The
1930s and 1940s saw the
rise of DDT, the first synthetic organic
chemicals to be used as an insecticide.
By killing insects that carried diseases
like malaria and typhus, DDT is credited
with saving thousands of lives during WWII.
DDT and other chemical insecticides, for
example to be discovered during this
time
were widely used for decades. In many
circumstances, larger quantities of these
chemicals were applied in an attempt to
completely eradicate pests, with less
concern for potential environmental
impact.
One of the first, most widely known view of
the potential ecological damage caused
by pesticides was a 1962 book "Silent
spring" by Rachel Carson, a marine
biologist and conservationist. While her
studies were challenged by chemists,
some scientists, and others,
her conclusions led to sweeping changes
in the way and amounts that chemical
pesticides are applied. Silent Spring
inspired a grassroots environmental
movement that led to the creation of the
Environment Protection Agency in 1970.
The Environmental Protection Agency was
established for the purpose of
developing a standardized federal approach
for environmental regulations, including
the use of pesticides. Since its inception,
the EPA strives to help maintain
nature's delicate balance by encouraging
the safe usage and implementation of
chemical pesticides and other materials
while caring for our natural surroundings. This
includes requiring chemical
manufacturers to evaluate and submit
their findings to the EPA on their
products effectiveness to control pests,
while keeping users and handlers safe, and
protecting the environment. Detailed
pesticide labels that provide specific
instructions for use and signal words
to indicate product toxicity are just some
of the ways that help to ensure safety
when these products are used. The EPA
also establishes tolerance levels that
are safe acceptable measurements of
pesticide residues on food crops that
include additional built in safety factors.
This ensures that even if residues
remain on food crops it is at a level that
is safe for human consumption.
In an effort to minimize pesticide usage, many
growers practice Integrated Pest
Management, known as IPM. IPM is a process of using
multiple control methods with the goal
of managing pests to an acceptable level
instead of eliminating them. This integrated
approach involves scouting to determine
pest populations and understanding and
managing ecological principles and life
cycles to
control pests. Practices can include
planting pest resistant varieties, using
mechanical methods for control, and using
beneficial predators or parasites.
Once the food reaches the market, the Food and 
Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department
of Agriculture (or USDA) regularly take
samples of both domestic and imported
food and analyze the food to enforce
these established tolerance levels for
pesticide residues. This "market basket"
program has been implemented to ensure
that the food you eat is as safe as it
can be.
The knowledge and wisdom that history
brings, along with certification and
continuing education of those who might handle
regulated pesticides, helps to ensure
that good science is put into practice.
Courses such as those offered by the
penn State Pesticide Education Program,
Penn State Extension, and the
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
help prepare pesticide users and
applicators for the challenges they face
to find the delicate balance between
controlling pests while protecting
themselves and the environment from
potential pesticide exposure. Practices
to control pests have come a long way
since the early days. With 9 billion
people to feed by the year 2025,
controlling pest when producing a safe and 
plentiful food supply, while at the same time
protecting human health and the
environment, is more critical than ever.
Combining all potential control methods,
including the safe and effective use of
pesticides, is the cornerstone of meeting
that goal.
