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Book reviews - Pesticides News No. 43
Top
25 pesticide companies
Market analysts
Agrow have produced their latest annual review of companies. The
latest overall pesticide sales figures quoted are those for 1997,
confirming that the top 10 companies have not changed since 1996, marking
a perhaps temporary slow-down in the take-overs and mergers that has
marked the 1990s. Novartis, Monsanto and Zeneca are the leading
agrochemical companies, followed by DuPont, AgrEvo, Bayer, Rhône-Poulenc,
Dow AgroSciences, Cyanamid (AHP) and BASF—all US or European based. The
sales of these ten companies account for US$25,499 million, or 80% of
total sales.
Monsanto is the focus
of developments in genetically engineered crops and has ruthlessly
acquired companies and made alliances to strengthen its leading position.
In 2000 it plans to open a US$146.4 million plant biotechnology research
centre near its US headquarters. The two key biotechnology developments
are glyphosate-tolerant Roundup Ready crops and the insect-resistant
products: Bollgard (bollworm); NewLeaf (Colorado potato beetle); and
YieldGard (maize cornborer). The company’s genetically engineered
cotton, soybeans and maize now cover millions of acres. Monsanto has 30
products in its biotechnology pipeline: 16 provide agronomic traits such
as insect resistance and 14 aim to change the ‘nutritional’ properties of
the harvested product and add value to the crop. The company aims to
achieve up to one-third of its agriculture sector income from technology
fees from transgenic crops by 2000.
Among the other US companies, Cyanamid’s biggest sellers are the
imidazolinone herbicides for weed control in soybeans and other leguminous
crops and the company works with others to develop imidazolinone-tolerance
in maize and canola. In addition to its own large biotechnology programme,
Dow AgroSciences established a company to commercialise transgenic crops
by acting as a ‘clearing house’ for other companies. Its efforts target
maize to support the company’s dominant position with the organophosphate
pesticide chlorpyrifos used to control corn rootworm. DuPont is
involved in biotechnology through several agreements, including a joint
venture with the biggest seed company, Pioneer Hi-Bred and other
companies. A leader in sulfonylurea products, the company has developed
sulfonylurea-tolerant soy-beans.
In
Europe, Novartis is the most active, being second only to Monsanto.
Novartis sells insect-resistant maize hybrids and herbicide-tolerant
soybeans and sugar beets, and virus resistant vegetables. Crop protection
and seeds divisions have a joint biotechnology plan, assisting sales of
the company’s Bt maize, and seeds sales increased by 6% in 1997.
Novartis is the first company to launch insect-resistant maize in Europe,
marketing two genetically modified Bt maize varieties in France in
1998.
AgrEvo is very active in
biotechnology and seeds. Alliances made since 1996 provide a flow of new
technology and are cheaper than purchasing companies. Its main biotech
product, Liberty Link, is tolerant to the company’s glufosinate herbicide.
AgrEvo has bought Cargill’s North American seed operations, including
research and production facilities in 14 US states and in one Canadian
province.
BASF has co-operative
agreements with several seed companies to introduce seth-oxydim-tolerant
maize. Bayer has close associations with organisations such as
the Max Plank Institute in Cologne and some biotechnology companies.
It has several biotechnology-related collaborations.
Rhône-Poulenc is active in herbicide
tolerance and disease resistance genes in key crops. It carries out gene
mapping in maize, sunflowers and soybeans. It has produced cotton tolerant
to its bromoxynil herbicide. In December 1997, the EPA cancelled
bromoxynil use on cotton, but in mid-1998, elected to continue the
tolerances for bromoxynil on transgenic cotton.
Zeneca has wide-ranging interests in
biotechnology, and its commitment was re-emphasised following the purchase
of the Dutch molecular biology company, Mogen in 1997. Mogen’s strength
lies in the introduction of disease and nematode resistance into a variety
of crops. The company is also involved in the development of herbicide
tolerant crops and crops with anti-fungal activity.
Agrow’s Top 25—1998 Edition, Agrow
Reports, 18/20 Hill Rise, Richmond, Surrey, TW10 6UA, UK, Fax +44 (0) 181
332 8992, www.pjbpubs.co.uk/agrep, Agrow
offers its reports at half price to non-profit-making organisations, 1999, pp330.
 |
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Against the
grain
Public concern about what we are
eating has never been greater. Yet within a few years, most of our food
will have been genetically engineered, without proper consideration of the
issues of public health, consumer choice and ecological stability.
Marc Lappe and Britt Bailey, Against
the Grain—The Genetic Transformation of Global Agriculture, Earthscan
Publications Ltd., 120 Pentonville Road, London N1 9JN, Fax +44 (0)171 278
1142, http://www.earthscan.co.uk/, 1999, pp163.
Herbicide tolerance
market
Agrow have produced a
report on the genetically modified herbicide tolerance business. The
global area of transgenic crops rose from an estimated 5.7 million
hectares in 1996 to over 14 million hectares in 1997 with over 80% being
in the US. Predictions for 1998 show that this exponential increase
continues with over half of the total US soybean area planted with
Monsanto’s Roundup Ready crops alone.
In
1987, there were nine petitions submitted to the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), rising to 161 five years later in 1992. By 1998
there were 1,067 petitions with the EPA involving maize, potatoes,
tomatoes soybean and cotton.
Of these
petitions, during 1987-1998, 30% were for herbicide-tolerant crops, 23%
were for insect resistance, 18% were for virus resistance, 15% were for
food quality traits, 4% were for disease resistance and 10% were for other
aspects.
One of the most important
chemicals involved in herbicide tolerance is glyphosate. At present,
Monsanto has the major share of the glyphosate market despite the
introduction of generic products throughout the world (the US excluded).
Assuming Monsanto holds an 80% share of this market, the total value of
the glyphosate market would be US$2,000 million. If competition meant that
Monsanto’s market share were to fall to 50%, it could stand to lose $600
million. For the company to continue making $1,600 million from glyphosate
sales would now require a global market of $3,200 million.
According to the report, one way to create
such a dramatic market expansion was to allow glyphosate to be applied to
extensive arable crops such as genetically modified maize and
soybean. Such a strategy has the potential of introducing well over
50 million hectares of arable land for glyphosate treatment in these two
crops in the US alone.
Dr L Copping, Genetically modified
Crops II—Genetic engineering for herbicide tolerance, Agrow Reports, 18/20
Hill Rise, Richmond, Surrey, TW10 6UA, UK, Fax +44 (0) 181 332 8992, www.pjbpubs.co.uk/agrep, Agrow
offers its reports at half price to non-profit-making organisations, 1999, pp106.
 |
Order the latest edition (600 pages, 31 January, 2002) direct from Amazon.co.uk. |
Pesticides in the UK
Under the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986 it is illegal to
use any pesticide except as officially approved. This book, based of
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food announcements and
manufacturer’s label information.
This
book lists products actively marketed in the UK which have full or
provisional approval for professional use in agriculture, horticulture and
forestry. Herbicides, insecticide, fungicides and other pesticides, as
well as plant growth regulators, are all covered.
A crop/pest guide allows identification
of all chemicals used against specific weeds, diseases, insects and other
pests on each particular crop.
R. Whitehead (Ed.), The Pesticides
Guide 1999, BCPC Sales, Bear Farm, Binfield, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG45
5QE, UK, Fax +44 (0)118 934, 1998, 736pp.
New
York usage reporting
A recent report from
the US public interest groups Environmental Advocates and the New York
Public Interest Research Group Fund (NYPRIG) assesses official 1997 data
showing 7.6 million kg or 9.0 million litres of pesticides were applied by
commercial applicators or sold to farmers for use on their crops in New
York State.
On 1 July 1998, the New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation released the first year of
pesticide use and sales data collected under the local 1996 Pesticide
Reporting Law. The impetus for this legislation was the near total absence
of information regarding actual pesticide use in the State—when, where,
what and how much. Indeed there are very few places in the world where
such information is available.
In New
York State non-agricultural pesticide use (80% of the total) is greater
than agricultural use. Commercial applicators (who mostly apply
non-agricultural products) account for 7.2 million kg of pesticides, where
as farmers use only 1.8 million kg.
According to Environmental Advocates and NYPRIG, the figures show that
over a third of pesticide products used contain known, probable, likely or
possible carcinogens. Nearly 40% of the pesticides used belong to one of
the two main neurotoxic groups of insecticides—organophosphates (OPs) and
carbamates. The OP chlorpyrifos is both the most heavily used pesticide in
the State and one of the leading causes of pesticide poisoning in the
US.
The report’s recommendations
include:
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New York State agencies should use the pesticide reporting data to further the goal of public health and environmental protection
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non-toxic pest management strategies should be actively promoted
-
enforce the Worker Protection Standard
-
ban aesthetic uses of pesticides
-
tax pesticide sales to fund pesticide programmes.
Audrey Their, Judith Enck and Christian
Klossner, Plagued by Pesticides: An analysis of New York State and New
York City’s 1997 Pesticides Use and Sales Data, Environmental Advocates,
353 Hamilton St., Albany, NY, 12201, US, Fax +1 518 427 0381, http://www.envadocates.org/, and
the New York Public Interest Research Group Fund Inc, 1998, 43pp.
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Piperonyl
butoxide
This book contains 20 chapters on
the properties, uses, plant metabolism and mammalian and environmental
toxicity of the synergist piperonyl butoxide. A synergist is a chemical
that has increased toxicity, in this case against insects, resulting from
the effect of one chemical on another. With piperonyl butoxide, the other
chemical is usually pyrethroids such as permethrin and deltamethrin. It is
also used in conjunction with the natural insecticide pyrethrum which is
extracted from a plant species grown in Kenya.
D Glynne Jones (Ed.), Piperonyl
Butoxide: The Insecticide Synergist, Academic Press, 24-28 Oval Road,
London NW1 7DX, Tel. 0171 424 4200, 1998, 323pp.
Apples and
pears
The food and environment group SAFE
Alliance has produced two reports, one on apple growing, the other on pear
production, that criticise the way in which the UK’s fruit supply has
become reliant on intensive agricultural methods and imports.
The report calls for greater support for
local traditional orchards, producing fruit using sustainable agricultural
methods including organic production. It urges the government to make more
agri-environment grants available for creating and maintaining orchards.
SAFE Alliance also urges supermarkets to take a lead in stocking local
varieties of fruit transported direct to the nearest branches, where they
can be promoted and marketed for their positive environmental and health
qualities.
These orchard fruit are now
produced as intensive crops, with excessive application of
pesticides being sprayed on them. The average pear is sprayed over 13
times, and the average apple is sprayed 16
times.
For apples, the report cites government
surveys which show for 1997 32 different agrochemicals left detectable
traces in apples. Nineteen samples of UK apples and 51 samples of imported
apples were tested along with two samples of unknown origin. Fifty-one of
the 71 samples contained multiple residues.
The SAFE Alliance is a coalition of 32
groups (including PAN UK) working to promote
sustainable food and farming. SAFE Food Facts No. 3 The Pear Essentials,
and No. 4 How Green Are Our Apples?, The SAFE Alliance, 94 White Lion
Street, London N1 9PF, Fax 0171 837 1141, 1999.
Organic handbook
In the five years since the first edition of the Organic Farm
Management Handbook, there have been a great number of developments
affecting the organic sector in the UK. Organic production standards have
been revised and upgraded. The rules and payment rates for arable area and
livestock premium payments have changed significantly.
Nic Lampkin and Mark Measures (Eds),
1999 Organic Farm Management Handbook, Elm Farm Research Centre, Hamstead
Marshall, Nr. Newbury, Berkshire, RG15 0HR, Fax 01488 658 503, 1999, 163pp.
Treatment of human
parasites
The Primary Health Care Guide
to Common UK Parasitic Diseases is an authoritative, comprehensive
source of guidance on pediculosis, scabies, toxocariasis and
toxoplasmosis. It offers easy-reference, practical advice on prevention,
recognition and effective management.
Jose Figueroa, Susan Hall and Joanna
Ibarra, Primary Health Care Guide to Common UK Parasitic Diseases,
Community Hygiene Concern, 160 Inderwick Road, London N8 9JT, Fax 0181 292
7208, 1998, 75pp.
[This
article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 43,
March 1999, page 21]