Pesticides

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorCollege, Undergraduate February 2008

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Poisons of Pesticides "What is the worth of a man or woman? What is the worth of a farm worker? How do you measure the value of life"(447)? Cesar Chavez brings up these questions in his essay "My Anger and Sadness over Pesticides." Chavez believes "farm workers are society's canaries. Farm workers and their children demonstrate the effects of pesticide poisoning before anyone else"(449). If society doesn't change the ways farmers use pesticides, then what will happen to all of the consumers 10 to 20 years from now (447-450)? To get his point across Chavez uses emotional appeal, he also has research from studies bases on farm workers and their families, and he bring into play the counter arguments for the usage of pesticides by the government, chemical companies, and large crop owners.

Chavez's emotional appeal is about his personal experiences with the diseased farmers this makes the reader feel sorrow and pity for the farmers.

When most people read about a child five years of age killed by cancer, they feel sorrow, specifically when the boy was one of six children who have died from this exact form of cancer in their small farm town (447). Readers also feel anguish when reading about a seven-year-old boy being born with no arms or legs. His mother worked in grapes until she was 8 months pregnant with her son where she worked in a pesticide known to cause birth defects. However, "she was assured by the foreman how the pesticides that surrounded her were safe, and they were harmless"(447-448). The reader also feels bad for the hardworking farmers who get skin irritations and rashes from working with the pesticides, but keep working because they fear losing their only source of income (449). Chavez clearly gives very good personal examples of...