Question

A farmer was using pesticides on his farm. He used the produce of his farm as food for rearing fishes. He was told that fishes were not fit for human consumption because large amount of pesticides had accumulated in the tissues of fishes. Explain how did this happen?

Answer 1

Pesticides can be defined as the synthetic toxic chemicals which are meant to kill pests. Most of the organic toxins are water-insoluble and non-biodegradable in nature. These high persistent toxins are transferred from lower trophic level to the higher trophic level through the food chain. Over time, the concentration of toxins in higher animals reaches a level which merely causes serious metabolic and physiological disorders.