As Long As The Human Race Has Been Cultivating The Soil, We Have Had To Deal Wit

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Term Paper Title	As Long As The Human Race Has Been Cultivating The Soil, We Have Had To Deal Wit
# of Words	1216
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.86

As long as the human race has been cultivating the soil, we have had to deal with other vegetation
that ends up competing with the crops.  People have tried many methods to get rid of these
pesky weeds but they always seem to come back.  This eventually led to development of
pesticides and herbicides.  Herbicides allowed people to kill off the unwanted weeds.  Over time
these herbicides became more and more specialized allowing them to only harm certain weeds as
needed such as broad leaf killers.  One of these specialized herbicides known as hexazinone.
     Hexazinone is used in the blueberry industry.  Since low-bush blueberries only grow less
than a foot high at the most, a plant that grows taller than that can get unlimited sunlight.  These
plants will block the sunlight from the blueberries and rob them of nutrients found in the soil.  This
competition will inhibit the growth of the berries.  This means less production and money for the
growers.  Many growers in areas of Maine such as Washington county could not afford to keep
their fields in business.  Many acres of land went unused as a result of this and the local economy
was quickly declining.
     In the early 1980's all this changed.  The herbicide hexazinone was introduced.
Marketed by DuPont under the name Velpar, it was the savior to a dying industry.  It was a
cheap and efficient way to rid crops of unwanted weeds.  Many blueberry fields were reopened
which boosted the economy.  This would be a great story if it ended there but unfortunately it
doesn't because application was not regulated.  Small traces of velpar were discovered in a
couple area wells.  These traces were so small that they posed no threat to people, in fact the
actual amount was about one half part per million.  The problem came from the fact that the well
belonged to a school.  Parents found out about this and people began to panic.  People in the
blueberry industry and others who had knowledge of pesticides knew that these amounts weren't
considered harmful, but others didn't agree.  It's pretty hard to explain to a group of concerned
parents that the water their child is drinking only has small traces of toxins in it and is safe to
drink.  Once the environmental activists in the area got word of this a decision was made to try to
ban Velpar.  This met heavy resistance from the blueberry industry.  After many hearings it was
agreed by both parties that Velpar shouldn't be banned but should be regulated.  The blueberry
indust...

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