disease-carrying vectors difficult.

disease-carrying vectors difficult.

Introduction
Food Safety
There are environmental risks related to what we eat and what we throw away; for example, the risks to the food supply caused by pests and pesticides. Pests are unwanted plants (weeds) or animals (vectors). The most common types of vectors are insects (arthropods) and rodents. Overpopulation, poverty, and lack of sanitation provide opportunities for vector-borne diseases to spread. Global warming and resistance make control of disease-carrying vectors difficult.

Pesticides are one way to control pests, but there is much controversy surrounding their use. While the benefits of pesticides include increased food supply, lower food prices, decreased spread of vector-borne disease, and pesticides can adversely affect birds, fish, and mammals. They can be harmful to those who apply the pesticides and those who are exposed to them, especially children. Although pesticides play an important role in our society, there are many natural alternatives to pesticides that are safer to use and very efficient, especially in and around the home.

Sanitation is one important way you can reduce the incidence of pests in your home. Sanitation is also important when it comes to food safety. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) gets sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases (n.d.). Thus, proper handling of food is vital. Other techniques used to decrease the risk of food-borne illnesses are pasteurization, inspection of meat and produce items, and food irradiation.