Pesticides on parole in United States

According to a recent report, pesticides will continue to be used in crop management. Here a pesticide is applied on soybean fields near Sheldon, Illinois

July 19, 2000
Web posted at: 12:41 p.m. EDT (1641 GMT)

By Environmental News Network staff

A team of experts assembled by the National Research Council concludes in a report released Tuesday that chemical pesticides will continue to play a role in pest management in the United States for at least the next 10 years.

The group based its conclusions on the fact that recently developed pesticides are more compatible with the environment, and viable, affordable alternatives are not yet widely available. In its report, "The Future Role of Pesticides in U.S. Agriculture," the team recommends "maintaining a diversity of tools for maximizing flexibility, precision and stability of pest management."

"Chemical pesticides should remain part of a larger toolbox of diverse pest management tactics in the foreseeable future," said May Berenbaum, professor of entomology at the University of Illinois-Urbana and head of the committee that wrote the report. "No single pest-management strategy will work in all ecosystems, so chemicals need to be part of an ecologically-based framework that can safely increase crop yields."

Sponsored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Agricultural Research Service and the Environmental Protection Agency, the committee began its research in 1998, gathering information through workshops, expert testimony and a review of literature about the topic.

The group noted that "societal concerns, scientific advances, and regulatory pressures have driven and continue to drive some of the more hazardous products from the marketplace."

The committee acknowledged that even new products poised to take the place of old ones are not risk-free.

The alfalfa plant bug is a non-native plant pest that can be controlled with pesticides

The new generation of environmentally friendly pesticides shows many of the same patterns as conventional pesticides, including resistance from targeted species and harm to non-targeted species. This also is true for crops such as Bt corn that have been genetically engineered to resist pests.

Until more is known about resistance and targeting, the committee stresses the need for multiple pest-control tactics, including chemical pesticides.

According to the report, chemical pesticides are needed to combat the invasion of non-native species — a threat to the United States given the recent relaxation of trade barriers with other countries.

While chemical companies have been working to develop more environmentally friendly pesticides, more often than not their technology is geared toward growers of major crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat. Farmers who harvest "minor" crops — ones that take up less acreage such as fruit and vegetables — are hard-pressed to find alternative, safer pesticides.

The report calls on federal agencies, including the USDA, FDA, EPA, National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, to provide money and incentives to industry and universities for broad-based research in pest management.

The authors recommend that the federal government lead the way in pest management technology, speeding up approval of improved pesticides and bolstering research that benefits organic gardeners.

They also recommend that the NSF and EPA fund research that would help farmers implement better pest-management practices. For example, if farmers knew which plants were vulnerable to what pests in a given season, they could rotate crops and avoid using chemical pesticides altogether.

The panel also advocates incentives to discourage reliance on chemical pest control.

Copyright 2000, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

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National Research Council
The Future Role of Pesticides in U.S. Agriculture
May Berenbaum
University of Illinois-Urbana
Environmental Protection Agency
   •pesticides topics page
USDA
   •Agricultural Research Service
National Institutes of Health
National Science Foundation
report about the future of pesticides
National Research Council.

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