7.2 The Vicious Cycle of Chemical Pest Control

The present chemical agricultural practice utilizes chemical pest control. The practice involves the following:

1. use of chemical poisons which are harmful to all living things

2. dealing with immediate problems (symptomatic cure only)

3. no consideration of the root causes

Let us see in more detail why it is impossible to control so-called harmful insects and diseases by chemical pesticides and why they make the situation worse.

A quick generation cycle and the production of a huge numbers of eggs at once is a characteristic of insects. This very characteristic enables the insects to develop resistance to the chemical insecticide quickly. So farmers are forced to use more pesticide or other stronger pesticides to control the insects. But again, the new insect generations become resistant to the pesticide. A second factor is the disappearance of natural enemies (e.g. spiders, frogs, birds, etc.) which eat the insects. The natural enemies are fewer in number and have a slower generation cycle and therefore are less productive than the insects. They cannot develop the same resistance against chemical pesticide and consequently are killed and disappear. The result is the creation an imbalanced ecosystem in which only the insects can break out.

This vicious cycle caused by the use of chemical pesticide not only makes the pest problem worse but also creates health hazards. The farmers who use the chemical pesticide (poison) are affected first, and those who eat the poisoned products are affected consequently.

Disease follows more or less the same pattern. Disease will never be controlled by chemical pesticides (fungicide, etc.). Use of agricultural chemicals to control diseases causes the same vicious cycle in the following ways:

1. specific micro-organisms (he disease germs) which cause plant disease are very flexible in changing their character to adjust to the change of circumstance. They can easily grow resistant to the pesticide.

2. beneficial micro-organisms which control the disease germs are also killed by the pesticide. An imbalance in micro-organisms occurs.

3. the resurgence of new and resistant diseases creates a further imbalance of micro-organisms.

Through chemical pest control temporarily demonstrates quick action, it cannot solve the problem permanently. The only permanent solution is pest management which considers the root causes and deals with the problems based on the rules of nature.