Pesticide Risk Reduction Research Articles

An economic evaluation of the environmental benefits from pesticide reduction

Previous studies on the environmental impacts of pesticide use have tended to focus either on measuring damages through changes in relative risks to various environmental categories or examining the trade-off between pesticide use levels and abatement costs. This study uses the physical risk assessment approach combined with contingent valuation survey results on consumers’ willingness to reduce pesticide risk. The reduction in external costs associated with the changes in pesticide use in Ontario agriculture between 1983 and 1998 is U© 188 per household. The environmental benefits are largely due to the reduction in the level of high and moderate-risk pesticides.

An economic evaluation of the environmental benefits from pesticide reduction

AbstractPrevious studies on the environmental impacts of pesticide use have tended to focus either on measuring damages through changes in relative risks to various environmental categories or examining the trade‐off between pesticide use levels and abatement costs. This study uses the physical risk assessment approach combined with contingent valuation survey results on consumers’ willingness to reduce pesticide risk. The reduction in external costs associated with the changes in pesticide use in Ontario agriculture between 1983 and 1998 is U© 188 per household. The environmental benefits are largely due to the reduction in the level of high and moderate‐risk pesticides.

Pesticide risk reduction on crops in the Province of Ontario.

We analyzed the changes in pesticide use and risk in the Province of Ontario, Canada, from 1973 to 1998 to monitor the success of Food Systems 2002, a program to reduce pesticide use by 50%. Pesticide risk was calculated by multiplying the amount of pesticide used (kilograms of active ingredient) by the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ), a score for the potential risk of pesticides to farmworkers, consumers, and the environment. Pesticide use increased by 46% from 1973 to 1983. From 1983, the baseline year for Food Systems 2002, to 1998, pesticide use decreased by 38.5% and risk declined 39.5%. The reductions in pesticide use and risk were primarily on corn (Zea mays L.) and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.), the crops with the highest pesticide use in 1983. Total pesticide use on soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] did not change, but the mean application rate (kg ha(-1)) decreased by 57%. Corn and soybean account for 65% of pesticide use, but have a relatively low pesticide use and risk per hectare and per tonne of production. Total pesticide use on tobacco, fruits, and vegetables was lower than on corn or soybean, but the pesticide use and risk per hectare were much higher. Small reductions in pesticide use on corn and soybean may allow a 50% reduction in pesticide use, but greater reductions in risk can be achieved by reducing the use of "high risk" pesticides on fruit and vegetables.

Training helps reduce pesticide risks

Training helps reduce pesticide risks

Action programmes for pesticide risk reduction and pesticide use in different crops in Norway

The objectives of the two Norwegian Action programmes for pesticide risk reduction (1990–1994 and 1998–2002) are presented. Norwegian farmers were interviewed about their application of pesticides in different crops. Such information is important and should be updated after a few years to evaluate the current programme. The survey included 16 different crops: potato, strawberry, tomato (in glasshouses), onion, carrot and Chinese cabbage grown in the 1994 growing season; cucumber (in glasshouses), lettuce (in glasshouses and in the fields), cauliflower, cabbage and swedes grown in 1995 and broccoli, cherries and plums grown in 1996. Data on the individual use of different pesticides were obtained. The average number of applications and the total amount (kilograms of active ingredients) per hectare of fungicides, herbicides and insecticides in each crop are given.

Proposal for a pesticide risk reduction policy for New Zealand

New Zealand is one of the few OECD countries to have no pesticide risk reduction policy. Mounting pressure to develop such a policy is in part internal (increasing recognition of environmental contamination, community concern about spray drift); and in part external (the OECD Pesticide Risk Reduction Project; export market demands). Much criticism has been levelled at policies which, like Sweden’s, include specific targets to reduce the quantity of active ingredients used. Yet analyses of Sweden’s relative toxicity equivalents shows that a significant reduction in risk as well as quantity has been achieved. This paper presents elements of a proposed risk reduction policy for New Zealand.

Swedish pesticide risk reduction 1981-1995: food residues, health hazard, and reported poisonings.

The Swedish Government has initiated three pesticide risk-reduction programs since the mid-1980s. Risk-reduction achievements have been measured mainly in terms of reduction in quantities sold. In this review, risk-reduction achievements have been described also in terms of pesticide residues in foods, both imported and grown domestically, acute health hazard to the users, and reported poisonings. The time periods selected for comparisons are 1981-1985 (which is the Government's baseline period), 1990-1994 for food residues and poisonings, and 1991-1995 for acute health hazard and quantities sold. The quantity of pesticides as active ingredient (ai) sold for use in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry decreased from a total of 22,800 tons during 1981-1985 to 8450 tons in 1991-1995, a 63% reduction. Published data on pesticide residues in domestically grown fruits and vegetables show that the proportion of cases of reported residues higher than 20% of the maximum residue limit has decreased only slightly, from 6.9% to 6.2%. Residues in imported food crops of the same type increased from 31% to 37%. Overall, the achieved 63% reduction of quantities used may have resulted in only a 10% reduction in number of cases of reported residues. A forthcoming report on pesticide intake via food from the National Food Administration may shed light on any trends in actual residue levels. The degree of goal fulfillment for the pesticide residue monitoring program and for pesticide residue levels in food is difficult to judge because of imprecise goal formulations. An estimate of the potential acute health hazard to the pesticide users, based on quantities and acute toxicity of individual pesticides, indicates that the acute health hazard in terms of "acute toxicity equivalents" decreased by 71%. The number of poisonings caused by acute exposure at the workplace has decreased between 1984 and 1994, whereas the number of mostly harmless incidents at home has increased. The decline in workplace-related accidents and the favorable pattern and low frequency of pesticide poisonings in Sweden compared to many other countries, especially developing countries, is the result of several factors, such as the mandatory training of workers using pesticides professionally, severe restrictions in availability of pesticides for use in households, and withdrawal from the market of the most toxic pesticides. To improve the worrisome global situation, it would seem appropriate that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization pay greater attention to the need for promotion of restrictions on availability of highly toxic and other pesticides, as recommended by FAO and WHO in 1975 (WHO/FAO 1975).