U.S. Water News Online
WASHINGTON -- No justification currently exists for completely abandoning chemical pesticides, says a new report from the National Academies' National Research Council. However, more government-sponsored research and incentives are needed to spur the development and use of alternative pesticides or new chemical pesticides that pose fewer risks to humans and the environment, and that are not too costly to use.
"Chemical pesticides should remain part of a larger toolbox of diverse pest-management tactics in the foreseeable future," said May Berenbaum, professor of entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana, who chaired 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."
The committee concluded that chemical pesticides will continue to play a significant role in U.S. agriculture for at least the next decade, not only because the environmental compatibility of pesticides is increasing, but also because effective and affordable alternatives are not universally available.
Although plants that are genetically modified to resist pests probably are safer for the environment than traditional synthetic pesticides, questions remain about how fast pests evolve resistance to them, how they affect nontarget species, and how their pest-resistant genes may be transferred to weedy relatives. Until more is known about the ecological impact of transgenic plants, a need will remain for chemical pesticides, especially in the effort to manage and slow pest resistance, the committee said. By using multiple pest-control tactics, instead of relying on a single method, farmers will face limited rates of pest adaptation to pesticides.
The reluctance of some countries to accept imported products derived from genetically modified foods also means that the United States will have to maintain a reliance on chemical pesticides, the report says. Moreover, recent reductions in trade barriers increase the chances that nonnative pests will find their way onto American soil. New, environmentally compatible chemical pesticides will be needed to complement a variety of prevention strategies to combat such pests.
Scientific advances and tougher regulations have driven some of the riskiest chemical pesticides from the marketplace, the report says. But finding alternatives has proved difficult for some farmers, especially those who harvest so-called "minor crops" -- which include most fruits and vegetables and grow on fewer acres than major crops like corn, soybeans, and wheat. Historically, pesticide manufacturers have focused on developing safer products for use on major crops, since treating vast numbers of acres offers a greater promise of profits. To overcome this disincentive to developing safer pesticides for minor crops, the report calls for the government to invest in pest-management research that is not currently -- and for the most part never has been -- undertaken by private industry.
In particular, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) should increase the amount of money it directs toward competitive grants to encourage basic research in pest management, the committee said. New discoveries also can be accelerated by broadening the scope of grant programs at federal agencies other than USDA. Biological, biochemical, and chemical research that can be applied to ecologically based pest management is consistent with the funding missions of several agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the report notes.
The study was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency. The National Research Council is the principal operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. It is a private, nonprofit institution that provides scientific and technical advice under a congressional charter.
Copies of The future role of pesticides in U.S. agriculture will be available in the fall from the National Academy Press -- tel. (202) 334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242.
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