Monday, February 21, 2011

New EPA pesticide sales report available

It's been several years since EPA issued one of its reports on annual pesticide sales and use.  I find these statistics interesting, if for nothing more than quoting in general talks on pesticides or for literature reviews preliminary to asking someone for money.  So I am glad to see that budget cutbacks haven't completely eliminated this service, and we have some more recent figures to study (2006-2007). 

If you had to guess what pesticide was used more than any other by the Government/Industry/Commercial sector, what would you guess?  The answer, according to this report is the herbicide 2,4-D, followed by the popular glyphosate, or Roundup®.  Insecticides barely make the top ten list, with malathion and sulfuryl flouride (Vikane®) coming in at positions 9 and 10, respectively.

The report illustrates the dramatic decline in organophosphate use, as well as the overall decline in pounds of insecticide used by the commercial/governmental sector.  Interestingly, the overall amount of pesticides used in the home and garden sector has been pretty steady over the past 20 years. 

The value of the pesticide market in the U.S. for 2007 was $12.5 billion.  Within the commercial/governmental/industry sector (which you belong to) the pesticide market was worth $1.9 billion, and the insecticide market by itself, $709 million.

To read the entire report, click here http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/pestsales/

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