Editorial - The Power of Pesticides

As a result of the increased use of pesticides in agriculture over the last years, there has been a significant rise in the quantity of toxic substances in the diets of people from all over the world. Besides the awful immediate problems that can be caused by these chemicals, in the long run, the ingestion of pesticides is also directly related to cancer and various mental disorders. In an attempt to control the utilization of these substances, governments have certainly created various regulations; however, as it tends to happen to anything that goes against the work of corporations, most of the laws are simply ignored.

In the mid-1990’s, the Consumers Union, a respected nonprofit US organization, found out that most of the pesticides used in agriculture were being employed in levels well above the safety limits for young children. As a consequence, innocent people have been exposed to dangerous substances, which are associated to serious diseases and deformations. In the case of children, the situation becomes even worse as kids are believed to consume 60 times more intoxicated fruits than adults in relation to their weight. In other words, the weakest and most precious people for our future are, essentially, being bombarded with toxic substances that can cause major problems even at minimal quantities.

At the same time, the excessive amounts of pesticides do not only cause gigantic problems to humans; in most cases, the substances also end up going to the ground and to the organisms of plants and animals, which affects entire food chains and may cause massive extinction in some areas. Due to the lower enforcement of regulatory laws in underdeveloped countries, important ecosystems are being threatened as farmers make use of pesticides that are often more powerful and dangerous. It has also been observed that the loss of crops to pests has increased by 5% from 1945 to 1987, which implies on adaptation of the unwanted organisms, and on the progressive need for stronger chemicals.

Pesticides have certainly played an important role in the food sector over the last years, and there is no doubt that we would not be able to feed the world population without them. Yet, we must pay attention to all of the risks generated by the excessive use of these substances, and to how they will affect us in the long run. With the increased awareness of people about all of the problems that might be caused by pesticides, solutions such as biological controls or more law enforcement have already been imposed in certain places. Nevertheless, it is necessary that action takes place in a global manner, so that safety and better life standards become a reality for people all over the world.

Outline for Editorial on McLeod’s cleanup measure

Hook

How would you feel if someone came to you ordering you to work for him or her without any explanations? Or worse, how would you feel if that same person forced you to clean the mess that others make in an almost dictatorial way? This is what happened to the students of Zurich International School after a new clean up measure was set up by the school’s director.

Intro

Who, What, where, when

The clean up measure is an enormous educational failure that does not consider the feelings and the sense of injustice amongst the students

Argument 1

It is completely unfair since the mess is almost entirely created by the 9^th graders.

Argument 2

It did not change the students’ thoughts about cleaning up and did not create any feelings of carefulness and consideration for the school. No one really cares about it and few people actually do their job.

Concession and Final Argument

We must admit that the school has actually become cleaner, nevertheless, this only worked because the 9^th graders saw that everything was their fault. They saw how everyone became extremely irritated.

This gives even more proof to the failure of the idea since an educational institution should not put its students against themselves in an intimidating and depreciatory environment

Conclusion

Mr. McLeod’s idea shows how even our leaders may be horribly wrong sometimes, and how unfairness in schools only creates more problems and revolt