The Regulation of Pesticides

The regulation of pesticides has been an important component of environmental protection at least since Rachel Carson warned about the dangers of unregulated pesticide use in her book Silent Spring in 1962. While regulations have been passed and implemented for the control of pesticides, there has been an ongoing argument over the degree to which such regulations should curtail the use of these poisons. Agriculturalists and others emphasize the benefits that accrue because of the use of pesticides, including the protection of various crops and the increased food yield that this involves, leading in turn to lower food prices and more choice in the supermarket. Some have warned that if pesticide use was banned in the United Stats, crop losses would probably increase to 50 percent of current production and food prices would increase four- to five-fold. Critics stress the problems associated with the use of pesticides, the viewpoint of Carson, while opponents of pesticide regulation simply note the economic problems that increased regulation would bring. However, there is evidence that the problems associated with unregulated pesticide use are simply too great to be suffered and that some regulation is sorely needed for the protection of the economy as well as our health and safety.

The extent of pesticide use is considerable. About one billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the United States to control pests, and they are employed primarily aga

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without pesticides, some of the food losses that are now routinely taking place during harvesting, distribution, and food preparation might be seen as less acceptable, leading to greater efforts to curb such unnecessary losses. There are significant losses in food at various points in the process of growing, harvesting, and delivering the foodstuffs, and waste could be reduced all along the line. Also noted are alternative, nonchemical pest controls that some believe could be effective in controlling these problems. These methods are seen as highly effective and important in current agricultural practice, and they are in fact employed already more extensively than pesticides for pest control in the United States. Crop rotation methods have been successful in controlling corn rootworms on about 60 percent of U.S. corn acreage. Farmers, however, have to consider other issues than rootworm control when deciding to rotate corn with other crops. Among the other issues involved are relative crop prices, crop management practices that are appropriate for a particular type of farm, soil fertility, and other prevalent crop disease and weed problems. We can assume an added cost of $15 per acre to initiate corn rotations on the acrea

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