Basic HTML Version
April-May, 1970
stronger insects, more tuxic pesticides
and an increasing threat to alllífe forms
on this planet.
No Way
Out?
Here then is our dilemma: We are
told that if pesticides were completely
withdrawn from use, crop and livestock
production would drop from 25 to 50
percent - that commercial production
of apples, peaches, cheuies, grapes,
cranberries, raspberries, strawberries,
citrus and a host of other products
would come to a halt - and that mil-
Tbe
PLAIN TRUTH
effor t is being spent on research in this
arca- and progress comes so slowly–
that this appears to be a false hope. In
addition, there are whole categories of
pest problems with no remote prospect
of biological control.
Have we then painted ourselves into
a corner? ls there no way out? Is there
no way that insect plagues can be
stopped without using pestícides?
The surprising answer is that there IS
a way out.
Let's begin to
e~plore
what the solu-
Bob
T
oylor Photo
Hoy ond fodder crops ore commonly sproyed with pesticides. Here o rother
poor alfalfo yield is being dusted. Research shows thot unheolthy soil
produces unheolthy plonts, ond weak or unheolthy plonts are usually
attacked by pests.
lions would have their diet drastically
altered or reduced.
But if we continne to use pesticides we
also are in dcep trouble. Survival is at
stake.
Not only will pollution reach criti–
ca! proportions, but as insects develop
resistance faster tban new pesticides can
be developed, it is jnst a matter of time
until these insects will begin to destroy
food crops wholesale. And mankind
will be utterly unable to stop them.
Sorne look to biological control to
provide an out. But so little money and
tion is by asking some very basic gues–
tions - and finding some very simple,
yet profound answers.
Do insects have a purpose? What
causes insects to attack plants and
become "pests"? Few seem to know.
The Purpose of lnsects
Insects constitute 70 to 80 percent of
all animal species. They are so numer–
ous that no one knows how many spe–
cies there really are. More than 800,000
have already been dassified and 10,000
more are being classified annually.
35
There are almost as many insects on
every square mile - tbree billion - as
there are humans on earth.
Insects multiply rapidly. A single
pair of flies is potentially capable of
producing 191,010,000,000,000,000,000
offspring in just four months!
If
they
all survived, the earth would be covered
to a depth of 47 feet!
This cannot happen because the laws
governing nature never permit a single
species, plant or animal, to domínate
any environment completely. Weather
f-actors - such as temperature and rain·
fall - limit the distribution of an insect
species. Toads, lizards, frogs, moles,
snakes, birds, bats, shrews and other
creatures feed largely on insects. Some
birds eat their own weight in insects
every day. Preciatory insects prey on
other insects. Larvae of parasitic insects
develop in the eggs, the young or the
adults of other insects. Viruses, fungi
and bacteria! diseases also help control
the insect population.
In fact, if the insects were not kept in
check by these natural forces, it is
doubtful whether any conceivable vol–
urne of chemicals could possibly keep
clown their populations. Yet we are sel·
dom aware o·f nature's own controls.
Al! thcse natural checks do their work
without threatening roan. lnsecticides,
which contribute only a very small part
of the total controlJing force over harm–
ful insects, are threatening al! life.
Doesn't it make sense for roan to
encourage the balance of oature rather
than devastate nature's natural controls
at every turn ?
It is not generally realized that
less
thtm one percmt
of the insect species
are considered pests to man. W e can
figure the crop Joss due to these pests
with a fa ir degree of accuracy ( about
$4 billion annually in the U. S.). But
the positive benefits of iosects are ofteo
overlooked because they are more dif–
ficult to estímate.
It
is easy to forget that bees, wasps,
flies, butterflies and other iosects polli–
nate plants that provide us with fruits
and vegetables; or that some insects are
vital links in the food chains of fish,
birds aod land animals; or that others
act as scavengers of animal aod vege·
table debris and others as aerators of