Write a 9 page essay on Pesticide Drift: A White-Collar Crime.Download file to see previous pages... Many white-collar crimes are especially difficult to prosecute because the perpetrators use sophist

Write a 9 page essay on Pesticide Drift: A White-Collar Crime.

Many white-collar crimes are especially difficult to prosecute because the perpetrators use sophisticated means to conceal their activities through a series of complex transactions. The most common white-collar offenses include: antitrust violations, computer and internet fraud, credit card fraud, phone and telemarketing fraud, bankruptcy fraud, healthcare fraud, environmental law violations, insurance fraud, mail fraud, government fraud, tax evasion, financial fraud, securities fraud, insider trading, bribery, kickbacks, counterfeiting, public corruption, money laundering, embezzlement, economic espionage and trade secret theft.

According to the federal bureau of investigation, white-collar crime is estimated to cost the United States more than $300 billion annually. Although typically the government charges individuals white-collar crimes, the government has the power to sanction corporations as well for these offenses. The penalties for white-collar offenses include fines, home detention, and community confinement, paying the cost of prosecution, forfeitures, restitution, supervised release, and imprisonment.

Both state and federal legislation enumerate the activities that constitute white-collar criminal offenses. The Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives the federal government the authority to regulate white-collar crime, and a number of federal agencies, including the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the Secret Service, U.S. Customs, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, participate in the enforcement of federal white-collar crime legislation. In addition, most states employ their own agencies to enforce white-collar crime laws at the state level. ("White-collar Crime")

Pesticide Drift: Violation of Environmental Laws

The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines pesticide drift as the physical movement of a pesticide through air at the time of application or soon thereafter, to any site other than that intended for application (often referred to as off-target). This happens after pesticide solutions are sprayed by ground spray equipment or aircraft. After the spray, droplets are produced at the end of the nozzles of the equipment. Many of these droplets can be so small that they can be suspended in air and are carried by air currents until they contact a surface or drop to the ground ("Spray Drift of Pesticides").

Pesticide drift is a fast growing concern in the United States of America. Studies show that exposure to pesticide drifts can cause short-term and long-term health problems. Short-term health problems include difficulty in breathing, eye, nose, skin, or throat irritation, skin rashes, headaches, stomach aches, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. Long-term health problems include brain cancer, leukemia, infertility, asthma, sterility, birth defects, miscarriage, and Parkinson's disease ("Health Effects of Drifts"). Pesticide drifts sometimes can be hard to detect because not all pesticides are visible and odorous. Some pesticides are invincible and odorless, which means you can be exposed to them without even knowing it ("About Pesticide Drift").

Health Effects of Pesticide Drift

People can be affected with pesticide drift anywhere pesticides are used not only those who live near farms but also those who live in the city or suburbs ("About Pesticide Drift").