In the midst of all the fear behind herbicides, is there a small chance that this fear is caused by not knowing how herbicides work?

Here are a few things to enlighten you about the function of herbicides on plants. What are the ideal properties of herbicides?

They enter the plant at various sites (depending on the application method, either through the leaves, soil etc.), without damaging the plant. It is moderately absorbed by the soil to decrease leaching and most importantly, it is stable in the soil. Every herbicide is made for a specific function, basically they are made to affect the weed and not the main crop. This is also known as herbicide selectivity. The herbicide is absorbed, translocated (through phloem and xylem) and then metabolized (broken down by the plant so that the mode of action will occur).

Mode of action is the events that occur from contact of the herbicide to the effects it has on the plants. These vary based on the type of herbicide, a few examples are photosynthesis inhibitor (stops photosynthesis and the plant dies because it cannot make its own food, It is safe for humans because we DO NOT PHOTOSYNTHESIZE!), Metabolic Inhibitor (interferes with cell division, this is not harmful to humans because WE ARE NOT PLANTS! we do not have the same hormones or growth regulators.)

Hopefully, this will intrigue most of us to read a bit more about this and have a better understanding of why we need herbicides in our farms, lawns, gardens etc. by understanding how they work.