Why herbicides?

Herbicides are substances that are used to eradicate unwanted plants for aesthetic, safety, or logistical reasons. The agricultural sector uses herbicides to protect crops and keep out undesirable species of plants, but other entities such as households and institutions use these substances as well. Specifically, school campuses will often use herbicides to maintain a traditional aesthetic standard or to remove invasive and harmful plant species. 

Herbicide use becomes an issue when the substances used cause more harm to both human health and environmental health than the protection they provide against harmful plant species. Synthetic herbicides-- man-made substances that are inorganically derived-- are especially dangerous to human and environmental health. Chemicals found in these synthetic herbicides impact the human body and our environment in a myriad of ways. One of the most popular chemicals used, glyphosate, has been deemed a “probable carcinogen” by the World Health Organization.

We’ve found that synthetic herbicides are predominantly used for aesthetic purposes on college campuses. These institutions are opting for chemicals that are linked to human health issues rather than exploring organic options that are safer for the grounds crew members, students, faculty, and other community members. Using synthetic herbicides to eradicate weeds for aesthetic purposes is neglectful-- prioritizing landscapes which require such inputs threatens the health of community members and the health of our environment.

Synthetic pesticides—toxic chemicals designed to kill pests, pose a direct threat to human health. Research shows that synthetic pesticides contribute to cancer, neurological disorders, reproductive issues, asthma, and many other diseases. Derived from fossil fuels, pesticides contribute to climate change by altering the soil’s ability to sequester carbon. In addition, synthetic fertilizers cause algal blooms and dead zones when they reach lakes and oceans. (The term pesticides encompasses herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, all designed to kill pests, including weeds, insects, fungi.)

People of color, undocumented immigrants, and other socioeconomically vulnerable peoples working in agriculture and land management are at a higher risk of exposure to these dangerous chemicals. Herbicides like Roundup historically affect underrepresented populations in America and around the globe. Without protective gear, training, and multilingual access to information about applied herbicides, millions of Black, Brown, and Indigenous farmworkers, as well as lower-resource communities, are directly exposed to toxic chemicals. The health risks associated with pesticide usage—combined with the disproportionate exposure of Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples to these chemicals—reveals the stark difference in how white bodies are treated in comparison to BIPOC bodies. Relying on communities of color to provide inexpensive labor without communicating the risks and potential damages to human lives is a human rights violation and contributes to racial inequities. This system perpetuates a colonial structure which benefits off of the exploitation of non-white and low-resource communities for the advancement of corporations which profit off of synthetic herbicides.

Synthetic pesticides are made up of toxic chemicals that threaten soil microbial communities, contribute to ocean dead zones, and poison our pollinators. These chemicals are petroleum-based, meaning that they’re derived from fossil fuels and contribute to climate change through impacting carbon sequestration and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Not only do they contribute to greater proportions of carbon in our atmosphere, but they have also been linked to the current levels of environmental toxicity that has brought us into the sixth global mass extinction of animals, and historical records of soil degradation, topsoil loss, soil and water contamination, instability in small agricultural communities, urban food deserts, urban sprawl, and much more.

Although synthetic pesticide use is most commonly seen as solely an environmental issue, we recognize the extensive intersection points of racial justice, food systems, public health, economics, and soil health as being equally important to the environmental implications of pesticide use. These chemicals threaten our world’s food supply, reducing the pollinator populations that crops depend on. The application of synthetic chemicals significantly degrades ecosystem health and this damage limits the capacity of our environment to provide us with proper nourishment. Herbicide usage, therefore, intersects with our daily life on both a micro and macro scale, from contributing to the produce available at the grocery store to the greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.

The environmental implications of synthetic pesticide use directly correlate to the well-being of our economy. Potential economic benefits are often cited in support of herbicide application, but this could not be further from the truth. Scientists and whole communities have demonstrated that synthetic herbicides and pesticides aggregate ecosystem damage, creating environments that are less able to sustain biodiversity and nutrient-dense crop yields. Research shows that synthetic pesticides contaminate more than 90% of pollen samples from beehives in agricultural areas per year, and the bee poisoning from pesticides translates to $13.3 million in lost crops annually. Meanwhile, pesticide-induced groundwater contamination results in a $2 billion loss annually and crop losses due to pesticides resulted in another $1.4 billion in losses (Pimentel 2005). The cost of synthetic herbicides far outweigh the benefits; they are a band-aid solution that amplify damage to our ecosystems.

The effects of synthetic herbicide application on crops span beyond just economic; the loss of millions of dollars worth of crops means decreased financial earnings and stability for farming communities, but more pointedly, less food to feed the world’s population. We are a world built on biodiversity. We depend on the agricultural system to feed the United States, providing the necessary nutrients to fuel our people. Synthetic pesticides put our food system in danger. The use of pesticides on crops has created food insecurity in lower-resource communities, growing nutritional deficiencies, and increased risk for non-communicable diseases. Synthetic pesticides reduce biodiversity by nature—removing unwanted species from homes, institutions, and farms—but their effect on pollinators indirectly reduces the number of plant species throughout the nation. This means that important fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds are less available, creating micronutritional deficiencies that increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and types of cancer (Smith et al. 2015).

Traditional monoculture lawns are maintained by pesticide application and studies show that these chemicals drift from outdoor spaces into our homes, polluting indoor air and contaminating surfaces. Indoor pesticide drift increases human exposure to toxic chemicals and intensifies the risk of cancers, neurotoxicity, reproductive defects, and more. Infants and children are the most sensitive to the toxic effects of pesticides, with early exposure to chemical pollution creating long-term health repercussions in our most vulnerable population. Pesticide exposure during pregnancy can harm our children even before birth; residential pesticide application at this stage increases an unborn child’s risk of developing a brain tumor by 40% (Vidart d'Egurbide Bagazgoïtia et al. 2018). We have a responsibility to protect our children’s health, and pesticides directly violate this sacred duty.