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3 Economic and Regulatory Changes and the Future of Pest Management
Pages 102-143

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From page 102...
... This chapter examines recent economic, institutional, social, and regulatory developments in the United States and evaluates their impact on pesticide use in agriculture. ECONOMIC AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS AND THEIR IMPACTS ON PEST CONTROL Over the last 2 decades, both the agricultural and general economies have undergone several major changes that affect and will continue to affect the way pesticides are used and pests are controlled.
From page 103...
... Recent developments have reduced but not eliminated barriers to international trade. Countries and regions have a wide array of legislative tools (including environmental and agricultural policies)
From page 104...
... Analyses of future roles of pesticides have to take a global perspective and be viewed within a context of increasingly harmonized sets of environmental regulations. Furthermore, the less advanced analytical capacity and expertise of some foreign countries have led to reliance on American regulatory and scientific decisions and knowledge in establishing pest-control policies abroad.
From page 105...
... Various companies from small restaurants to international giants, such as Unilever, Nestle's, and Proctor and Gamblehave specialized in assessing consumer needs and producing and marketing products to meet them. The result is an immense set of differentiated food products, many of them with substantial brand recognition, and a food sector that is several times larger than agriculture.
From page 106...
... and contracting (in which the marketers and processors of agricultural commodities provide farmers with inputs, including genetic materials and guidance about production processes and specification of the final product)
From page 107...
... The impetus for establishing offices of technology transfer in many major universities was the awareness that private companies do not take full advantage of university innovations (Postlewait et al.
From page 108...
... Technology-transfer offices were organized to connect university researchers with venture capitalists to establish startup companies that aim to develop university innovations. Most of the dominant firms in biotechnology (such as Genentech, Chiron, Amgen and Calgene)
From page 109...
... . The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
From page 110...
... Effective training and continued education of these consultants will affect pesticide-application practices and the future of pest control in the United States and around the world. Phaseout of Commodity Programs A wide array of agricultural support programs that originated in the 1930s are gradually being phased out.
From page 111...
... The evolution of the legal systems of patents, plantprotection laws, and trade secrets enables owners of specific technological knowledge, which is critical for valuable production processes, to collect some return on their investments associated with the development and use of this knowledge. Major chemical companies and other entrepreneurs are racing to support research and buy rights to knowledge that will enable them to control valuable product lines.
From page 112...
... The growing severity of environmental regulations might provide some justification for altering pest-control strategies by introducing new precision pesticide-application technology or for canceling some pest controls and setting the stage for introduction of new strategies. Increased differentiation in management of environments and products is an emerging trend.
From page 113...
... There are some growers, packers and retailers that are trying an alternative to organic agriculture because organic agriculture focuses primarily on "no synthetics" but is silent on some environmentally friendly and socially responsible practices. For example, the Food Alliance of Portland, Oregon, requires its farmer-members to limit their use of chemicals, conserve soil and water, and provide fair and safe working conditions.
From page 114...
... Downward price pressure on organic foods also means increased pressure on farmers; the inefficient farmers probably will shut down and efficient organic farmers will expand acreage. Also influencing the trend is the fact that mainstream corporate farming operations are converting to organic production methods.
From page 115...
... It provides requirements for certification of organic production, accreditation of state and private certifying agents, equivalence of foreign organic certification programs, approval of state organic programs, and user fees. The proposed rule, however, did not specifically eliminate the use of genetically engineered crops, sewage sludge, and irradiation on products designated as organic.
From page 116...
... . IFP obtains cooperation from many groups involved in the process, and, notably, there is also high consumer demand for IFP fruit (Vickery 1998)
From page 117...
... The program uses a pesticide rating system whereby pesticides are numerically rated according to their toxicity to various systems and each grower earns a particular number of points. Growers who use highly toxic compounds must reduce the total numbers of applications or they will not meet the standards set by ENZA for IFP fruit.
From page 118...
... The point system is not based on specific products used, but rather on pest monitoring and pest management. The requirements are minimal compared with California grower practices; most California growers are already using practices that exceed these requirements.
From page 119...
... . The Food Alliance is a nonprofit group in Oregon formed to promote environmentally friendly farm practices beyond organic agriculture.
From page 120...
... has developed the Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP)
From page 121...
... During the 1970s, EPA and similar agencies relied mostly on direct control of technology, liability rules, and litigation as the major tools to achieve environmental-policy objectives, especially in regulating production activities. Strict registration requirements have been and are still the major tools to address introduction of new substances for pest control and management.
From page 122...
... Furthermore, public awareness of documentation activities encourages people to be more cautious in their pestcontrol activities. In spite of the gradual shift toward financial incentives, the leading pesticide regulation remains direct control.
From page 123...
... FQPA was supported by the agricultural community to resolve the socalled "Delaney paradox", replacing it with a uniform health standard defined as "reasonable certainty of no harm". Under the "Delaney clause" of FFDCA, tolerances for pesticide residues on raw agricultural commodities were determined by a weighing of risks and benefits.
From page 124...
... and on raw agricultural commodities (Section 408~. An additional problem with the Delaney clause is that zero tolerance for carcinogenicity but not other modes of death inadvertently biased test results in favor of the more toxic compounds because test animals succumbed before doses sufficient to induce cancer could be applied.
From page 125...
... The NRC study committee concluded that infants and children are different from adults, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in their exposure to pesticide residues in food and that the differences were not taken into account in pesticide regulatory practices such as tolerance-setting and calculation of dietary exposure limits. Evidence of quantitative and, occasionally, qualitative differences in the toxicity of pesticides between children and adults was also found.
From page 126...
... · Requirement of an additional safety factor of up to 10 based on available information and evidence, to account for the uncertainty of exposures and sensitivities of children. · Requirement of consideration of exposure to all other pesticides with a common mechanism of toxicity in the setting of allowable residue concentrations.
From page 127...
... For example, EPA is considering a ban on all organophosphates because of the cumulative-risk concept and the common mechanism of action of this large group some 1,800 tolerances are established. EPA's preliminary risk assessment of 28 organophosphates indicated that risks of some individual organophosphates (such as methyl parathion)
From page 128...
... In its amendments to FIFRA, FQPA authorizes collection of fees from industry to complete the review of all current tolerances, thus ensuring that these chemicals meet current EPA standards; establishes minor-use programs in both EPA and USDA, including a USDA revolving-grant program to support data-collection requirements and other procedural provisions to assist minor-use pesticide applications; and reforms the antimicrobial-registration process to shorten regulatory review and decision times. In addition to toxicity, human risks, cumulative effects, aggregate exposure, and variabilities among subgroups, FQPA requires that EPA consider endocrine effects for reregistration and re-evaluation of tolerances and assessment of risks.
From page 129...
... There are serious concerns among farmers and growers about the actions that were being considered by EPA under the aegis of FQPA, particularly a ban on all organophosphate insecticides. Speakers at a recent symposium examining FQPA and its impact on science policy and pesticide regulation confirmed that concern, with particular impact being felt in the production of fruits and vegetables, where the residues of organophosphates are highest.
From page 130...
... 1998~. Decreasing Worker Exposure to Pesticides The 1992 EPA Worker Protection Standards The 1992 EPA Worker Protection Standards (WPS)
From page 131...
... Because states compete in terms of their compliance with WPS, state officials at many levels in the enforcement hierarchy have an incentive to underreport noncompliance. Interviews with EPA officials indicate that EPA has not conducted any independent studies to gain an unbiased estimate of compliance with specific WPS regulations.
From page 132...
... Two detailed reports that examined WPS state records from Florida and Washington were recently published by agricultural-worker advocacy groups (Davis and Schleifer 1998, Columbia Legal Services 1998~. The groups accessed public documents on how state regulatory officials responded to reports of poisonings or noncompliance with WPS.
From page 133...
... Ban on all or some uses of the most acutely and chronically toxic pesticides. Under the comprehensive pesticide reregistration engendered by FQPA, worker exposure and safety issues are under intensive direct scrutiny and analysis by EPA to decrease consumer exposure to pesticide residues on and in foods.
From page 134...
... They are required to report their recommendations to the state as part of a state pesticide-monitoring program (California Department of Pesticide Regulation, 2000~. Improvement of pesticide-application tools, packaging, and
From page 135...
... Ultralow volume, geographic information system applications, drip irrigation, chemigation, and prepackaged ready-to-use containers have all reduced the exposure of agricultural workers (see Table 3-1)
From page 136...
... A worker who feels the symptoms of acute pesticide poisoning might not know whether the symptoms are due to a pesticide, hot weather, a virus, or food poisoning. Unless the worker has been told, or seen signs indicating, that he or she has been in a pesticide treated area before the restricted entry interval has elapsed, it is difficult to determine cause and effect.
From page 137...
... Because of special health risks associated with them, methyl parathion, paraquat, and methyl bromide now contain odorants (referred to as stenching agents)
From page 138...
... The identity of odorants in methyl parathion and paraquat is confidential business information, so detailed information on the composition of most of the odorants and on how the manufacturer adds odorants is not available. What is clear from these three cases is that the technical and regulatory problems associated with adding odors to pesticides are not difficult to solve.
From page 139...
... 1997. Increase in Swiss Organic Farming.
From page 140...
... 1999. Implementing the Food Quality Protection Act.
From page 141...
... 1999. Talk presented on The Food Alliance at Critical Elements in Transitioning to Biologically Based Pest Management Systems, June 301uly 2, 1999, Grand Rapids, Mich.
From page 142...
... 1999. Pesticide Residue Regulation: Analysis of Food Quality Protection Act Implementation (RS20043~.
From page 143...
... 1998. Beyond Organic Agriculture.


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