Pesticides

Let's look at pesticides for example. Pesticides are toxic or poisonous chemicals that are used to kill pests. A pest is an insect, animal or plant that is out of place or not where it belongs. While mice might have an important role to play in nature by spreading seeds and helping plants grow, they can spread dangerous diseases when they live out of place in our homes. Ever since the 1940's pesticides have been widely used to kill pests. The suffix "cide" means to kill. A herbicide kills weeds; a rodenticide kills rodents; a fungicide kills fungus and an insecticide kills insects.