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kill bugs

Cleo89

Senior Member
Arabic
The author is talking about the effect of chemical exposures on our microbiome, "As I've said, it's impossible to know exactly how many synthetic chemicals we're exposed to today, and which ones are truly harmful to microbal and human cells... The two in particular that should be avoided as much as possible are pesticides and chlorine. These have been shown to have detrimental effects on the gut bacteria. Pesticides, for one, are designed to kill bugs!
Does "bugs" refer to "insects" or also "microorganisms", as the author highlights the harmful effects of pesticides on "gut bacteria" as well?
Source: Brain Maker
Pesticides, for one, are designed to kill bugs!
That's a ridiculous statement in the context. Pesticides are designed to kill pests, they are not designed to harm bacteria. Unfortunately, they may have the undesigned side effect of doing so. Their design is irrelevant to the effect on the gut biome. But yes, he is conflating two meanings of 'bug'.
Pesticide literally means kill any sort of pest.

In the context of the book he is interested in not killing the micro-organisms inside you own body. We don't generally consume pesticides, but he is pointing out that casual ingestion of chlorine (in water, for instance) or pesticides residual on food crops might impact on your internal microbes.

edit - x-posted
Technically in the US, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and as defined by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, "anti-microbial pesticides" do exist, but they are not what we usually think of as pesticides, but rather as sanitizers or disinfectants. "Pesticides are designed to kill bugs" is not a technically accurate statement, since pesticides may well be designed to kill rodents or plants or snails. It's probably not intended to be accurate, just somewhere between metaphorical and attention-getting. Although i agree with the author's point in general, I have a prejudice in favor of accuracy.
I think the author is engaging in some word play (which doesn't work all that well) with the assumption that we use 'bug' to mean disease caused by a microorganism or a microorganism itself.
For example: two friends with young children, talking on the phone:
A: Sammy's home from school today. He has a little fever and he's been sick to his stomach twice.
B: Oh, sounds like my house: both Sophie and Tommy were sick a few days ago There must be a bug going around.

So the pesticide that kills insects can also have the side effect of killing the (good) microorganisms in our gut.
I think the author is engaging in some word play (which doesn't work all that well) with the assumption that we use 'bug' to mean disease caused by a microorganism or a microorganism itself.
For example: two friends with young children, talking on the phone:
A: Sammy's home from school today. He has a little fever and he's been sick to his stomach twice.
B: Oh, sounds like my house: both Sophie and Tommy were sick a few days ago There must be a bug going around.

So the pesticide that kills insects can also have the side effect of killing the (good) microorganisms in our gut.
So he meant that pesticides that are designed that kill bugs "insects" have secondary side effects of killing good gut bacteria?
So he meant that pesticides that are designed that kill bugs "insects" have secondary side effects of killing good gut bacteria?
Yes, as I said in post 2.
yea i think the author was just using "bugs" as a play on words there. pesticides are meant to kill insects and other pests, but can unfortunately also kill off beneficial gut bacteria as an unintended effect.
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