Fish and other wildlife are also at risk from pesticide misuse and accidents. Both wild bees and honey bees are essential for pollination of many crops, and many are lost to pesticide exposure. More than one-third of calls to animal poison centers result from pesticide exposure to pets. Pests can also become resistant to pesticides, increasing control costs, crop losses or other pest damage. Many natural enemies of pests are killed by pesticides, freeing pests from these natural controls.
Pesticides are powerful medicines for pest problems.
It s not smart, effective or affordable to take medicines when you re not sick. Eating right and staying fit is great, low risk medicine for your health. Using IPM to prevent pest problems is the best solution for a healthy environment for everyone. Most pesticide problems are caused by a small number of the pesticides available today. Many low risk pesticides are available, and more are being developed each year from both naturally occurring and synthetic materials.