What is a Pesticide?
A pesticide is a chemical mixture that is created to prevent the spread of "pests" or destroy the "pest" all together. Pesticides are not just insecticides (ridding of insects), pesticides are also herbicides (ridding of different plants) and fungicides (ridding of fungi).
For the ridding of mosquitos that carry the West Nile Virus two different types pesticides, also known as insecticides, are used, larvicides and adulticides. Larvicides are pesticides that rid mosquitos during the larva state of life, preventing the increasing number of infected mosquitos. Adulticides are pesticides that rid mosquitos during the mature adult state of life, eliminating already exsisting fully matured infected mosquitos.
Pesticides Affect
Pesticides have played a big role in controlling the spread of West Nile Virus by eliminating the infected mosquitos in one location. Decreasing the number of humans who have been infeceted with West Nile Virus by hundreds, but most pesticides cause more trouble then solutions.
By slight exposure harmful pesticides can irritate, toxicate, injure and possibly detroy human organs. Dangerous pesticides can be all around; putting the population, near a pesticide treatment location, in dangerous living conditions. Many common pesticide manufacturers ignore the health risks they are spreading and the environment they are destroying.
Pesticides also can have a fatal toll on the future of developing environments, that have been infested with infected mosquitos. Water quality is questioned when near pesticide treatment location, so are crops and the health of animals who inhabit the infested location. Inhabitants of the infected waters suffer with the affects of harmful pesticides; some pesticides damage nervous systems of aquatic organisms (fish for example.)