The Next Generation Brian Shema, Environmental Educator P esticides have been used in the United States for decades by farmers in order to get rid of pests that would otherwise destroy their yield. These pesticides can be categorized in two groups, organochlorides and organophosphates. The latter is the newest and most dangerous to birds of prey. These pesticides, which are used to kill insects by affecting their nervous systems, have three characteristics that also make them harmful to birds of prey.
Persistent pesticides stay in the environment for long periods of time before disappearing.
DDT, for example, has a half-life of fifteen years. This means that after fifteen years, half of the amount of pesticides released still remain in the environment. A broad spectrum compound is designed to kill a variety of pests. Farmers spray their crops. An insect pest consumes the pesticide, while eating the crop, and concentrates the fat-soluble pesticide in its fatty tissue.