Benefits and Costs of Pesticide Use in U. S. Food Production

Abstract

Two opposing viewpoints have been expressed in recent years concerning the benefits of pesticides in U.S. production. Many agriculturalists and others have emphasized the benefits due to pesticide use (Borlaug 1972, Butz 1972, Carew 1972, Kraybill 1975, Slife 1973). Borlaug (1972) warned that if the use of pesticides in the United States were completely banned, crop losses would probably soar to 50% of current production and prices would increase 4to 5-fold. Walker (1970) has estimated that, without adequate pest control, food production decrease 25 to 30 percent and our and fiber depend at present and for several years to come on the judicious use of pesticides. Moreover, former Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz (1972) stated that without pesticides farmers could not produce enough for 206 million Americans. Others have stressed the problems associated with pesticide use. In the early 1960s, the public was warned that continued pesticide use would eventually result in a silent spring and exact a high price (Carson 1962). This viewpoint continues to find support today (Merrill 1976, Rudd 1964, Turner 1970, van den Bosch and Messenger 1973). Several previous analyses have weighed the benefits and of pesticide use. Dollar returns have been estimated at from $3 to $5 for every $1 invested in pesticidal control of pests (Headley 1968, Pimentel 1973, PSAC 1965). Chemical control in U.S. crop production is estimated at $2.2 billion annually, with a gross return we calculated to be $8.7 billion-hence, a $4 to $1 ratio (Pimentel et al. 1978). The $2.2 billion spent on pesticidal control does not include the external costs of pesticide use. These include human pesticide poisonings and fatalities, reduction of fish and wildlife populations, livestock losses, some destruction of susceptible crops and natural vegetation, honey bee losses, destruction of insect natural enemies, pesticide resistance in pest populations, and secondary pest problems created by the use of pesticides (Oka and Pimentel 1976, Pimentel 1971, Pimentel and Goodman 1974, Pimentel et al.'). The controversy concerning the benefits of pesticides compared with their persists to the present. For this reason, we were prompted to seek out and evaluate the available data to esti-