Editor’s note: This piece is part of a series of guest opinions from Crest View Elementary School 5th graders. Each piece was submitted with permission from the author’s parents.

Has someone ever told you to eat your veggies or that “an apple a day keeps the doctors away”? While fruits and vegetables are generally good, sometimes they can be contaminated with pesticides, which can be very, very bad.

One reason that pesticides are harmful is their effects on humans.

According to Wonderopolis, they can cause problems like eye irritation, blindness and kidney failure. These problems are usually from something called inert ingredients. These ingredients can make up as much as 95% of the product and are not required by law to be shared by the producers in order to save trade secrets, says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This makes the situation even worse because it hides the origin of the problem and makes it harder to detect.

Another reason that pesticides can be problematic is that they don’t just harm humans. Apart from humans, they can cause damage to animals like bees, birds, fish, insects, and even entire food chains according to Calwood and Wonderopolis.

The way this happens is that say a toad bathes in a pond that has been contaminated with pesticides from a nearby field. Then the toad becomes sick and weak, an easy target for predators. Now pretend that a hawk eats the toad, now the poison that was originally just in the toad is now in the hawk too.

Through this chain, entire ecosystems can become infected with pesticide poison leading to extreme damage to multiple types of species and in some cases even extinction.

Some might say that pesticides are acceptable and even positive because of their important role in keeping pests away from our food. Although it is true that they have a seemingly innocent and effective role in farming, I think that it is unfair to put thousands of other species in jeopardy just for a tasty meal. But it is important to remember that there is a solid solution. In fact, there are many effective solutions you could do right now like starting your own garden or eating organic foods made without pesticides or herbicides.

Although it is not immediate there is a solution and anyone can help the cause and make a difference. I think that it’s important for everyone to do as much as they can and do it wholeheartedly because that is and will always be the most effective first step to solving any problem as big as this.

Theo Rose is a Boulder 5th grader with interests in music, math, and nature.