16.4 AGRO-CHEMICALS AND THEIR EFFECTS & 16.5 RADIOACTIVE WASTES

16.4 AGRO-CHEMICALS AND THEIR EFFECTS 

• In the wake of green revolution, use of inorganic fertilisers and pesticides has increased manifold for enhancing crop production. 
• Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc., are being increasingly used. 
• These incidentally, are also toxic to non-target organisms,that are important components of the soil ecosystem. 
• Do you think these can be biomagnified in the terrestrial ecosystems? 
• We know what the addition of increasing amounts of chemical fertilisers can do to aquatic ecosystems vis-à-vis eutrophication. 
• The current problems in agriculture are, therefore, extremely grave.

16.4.1 Case Study of Organic Farming 

• Integrated organic farming is a cyclical, zero-waste procedure, where waste products from one process are cycled in as nutrients for other processes. 
• This allows the maximum utilisation of resource and increases the efficiency of production. Ramesh Chandra Dagar, a farmer in Sonipat, Haryana, is doing just this. 
• He includes bee-keeping, dairy management, water harvesting, composting and agriculture in a chain of processes, which support each other and allow an extremely economical and sustainable venture. 
• There is no need to use chemical fertilisers for crops, as cattle excreta (dung) are used as manure. 
• Crop waste is used to create compost, which can be used as a natural fertiliser or can be used to generate natural gas for satisfying the energy needs of the farm. 
• Enthusiastic about spreading information and help on the practice of integrated organic farming, Dagar has created the Haryana Kisan Welfare Club, with a current membership of 5000 farmers.

16.5 RADIOACTIVE WASTES 

• Initially, nuclear energy was hailed as a non-polluting way for generating electricity. 
• Later on, it was realised that the use of nuclear energy has two very serious inherent problems. 
• The first is accidental leakage, as occurred in the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl incidents and the second is safe disposal of radioactive wastes. 
• Radiation, that is given off by nuclear waste is extremely damaging to organisms, because it causes mutations at a very high rate. 
• At high doses, nuclear radiation is lethal but at lower doses, it creates various disorders, the most frequent of all being cancer. 
• Therefore, nuclear waste is an extremely potent pollutant and has to be dealt with utmost caution. 
• It has been recommended that storage of nuclear waste, after sufficient pre-treatment, should be done in suitably shielded containers buried within the rocks, about 500 m deep below the earth’s surface. 
• However, this method of disposal is meeting stiff opposition from the public. 
• Why do you think this method of disposal is not agreeable to many people?