Short answers, pulled from the story.
The word pesticide derives from the Latin pestis meaning plague and caedere meaning kill. This etymology reveals the original intent of these substances as tools to destroy organisms deemed harmful to human interests.
Persistent pesticides including DDT have been banned worldwide with exceptions for spraying interior walls to combat malaria vectors. Silent Spring summarized this environmental crisis before DDT was banned in several countries by the 1970s when it became evident that DDT had accumulated in the food chain becoming a global pollutant.
The cost of developing a new pesticide in 2024 was estimated at 301 million US dollars. This figure reflects the difficulty of finding new active ingredients as more than 100 were introduced in the 2000s while fewer than 40 emerged in the 2010s.
Ninety-nine percent of pesticide-related deaths occur in developing nations accounting for only 25% of global usage. The World Health Organization estimates that 3 million agricultural workers in developing countries experience severe poisoning each year resulting in 18,000 deaths.
Over 98% of sprayed insecticides and 95% of herbicides reach destinations other than their target species. Pesticide drift occurs when particles suspended in air are carried by wind to contaminate neighboring areas.