Pesticides and Pest Control

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Pesticides and Pest Control

My favorite pest to hate.--RAK
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Key Concepts

• What is a pestbiocentric no pests
• Pesticide Types Uses

• Pros and cons of using pesticides

• Pesticide regulation in the US

• Alternatives to chemical pesticides

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What is a pest?

• Unwanted organism

• Interferes with

• Food production

• Human health

• Peace quiet (nuisance)

• Causes economic harm

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Ideal Pesticide

• Kills target pest

• Non-persistent short lived

• No adverse affects on other organisms

• No genetic resistance

• Less costly than economic losses

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Pesticides Types

• Chemical, organism, facility or activity that
  kills pest organisms

• Insecticides bugs

• Herbicides plants

• Fungicides fungi

• Rodenticides rats, mice, vermin

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First Generation Pre 1940s

• Primarily natural substances

• Sulfur, lead, arsenic, mercury

• Plant extracts nicotine, pyrethrum

• Plant extracts are degradable

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Second Generation 1940s-- 80s

• Primarily synthetic organic compounds

• 630 biologically-active compounds 35,000
  pesticide products

• DDTDr. Mueller Nobel Prize in 48

• Attributes cheap, easy to produce, persistent,
  insoluble in water.

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Third Generation 1985

• Genetically engineered predators

• Genetically engineered plants

• i.e. Roundup Ready corn, wheat, rice

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Pesticide Factoids

• 75 in more developed countries

• U.S. use 4 lbs/person/year

• U.S. 5 billion business

• Usage Worldwide 40 Europe 35U.S. 25 LDCs

• U.S. 70 agriculture 30 residential

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Pesticide Factoids

• Ag. Use 80 herbs 15 insects
• 5 fungi and rodents

• 70 of herbs are applied to 4 crops corn
• cotton, wheat, soybeans

• 30 of herbs to other crops and grasslands

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The Case for Pesticides

• Save human lives

• Increase supplies and lower cost of food

• Work better and faster than alternatives

• Health risks may be insignificant compared to
  benefits

• Newer pesticides are becoming safer

• New pesticides are used at lower rates

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The Case Against Pesticides

• Genetic resistance

• Can kill non-target and natural control species

• Can cause an increase in other pest species

• The pesticide treadmill

• Pesticides do not stay put

• Can harm wildlife

• Potential human health threats

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Pesticide Regulation in the United States

• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
  Act (FIFRA) 1972

• Options register for use, testing, label
  requirement, regulations on use ban (1976-
  mirex, kepone 1983 EDB, ALAR

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Other Ways to Control Pests

• Economic threshold

• Adjusting cultivation practices

• Use genetically-resistant plants

• Biological pest control

• Insect birth control

• Hormones and pheromones

• Ionizing radiation

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Integrated Pest Management

• Ecological system approach

• Reduce pest populations to economic threshold

• Field monitoring of pest populations

• Use of biological agents

• Chemical pesticides are last resort

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The Gene Revolution

• Genetic engineering - What is it?
• Insertion of an alien gene into a commercially
  valuable plant or animal to give it new
  beneficial genetic traits
• Genetically modified food - What is it?
• Any product that gets some of its content from an
  organism that has been genetically modified (DNA
  manipulation)
• Issues with GMF
• Lack of knowledge of potential harms
• Cant be recalled over problems

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Benefits of GMF
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Controversies over GMF