World non-agricultural
pesticide markets
A comprehensive report
from Agrow Reports examining the global non-agricultural pesticide market
which constitutes 12% of the global pesticides market. The report focuses
on four main sectors; home and garden pesticides, turf (including golf),
pesticides used by pest control operators and industrial pesticides
(aquatics, road, rail and rights of way). Markets from sixteen countries
were surveyed, nine of which are profiled in the report; Australia,
Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, UK and the US. Country
markets are examined in terms of sales by sector, the home and garden
sector, industrial users, pest control operators and turf
management.
The US is the largest country
market whilst the others are expected to develop further, driving market
growth. Developing countries are beginning to restrict the use of older
active ingredients, formerly banned in other markets, opening up the
market for newer products. Elsewhere population dynamics are expected to
drive market growth, particularly as the post-war baby-boomer generation
are now in the 35-55 age group when interest in gardening
increases.
The eleven agrochemical companies
dominating the global non-crop market are examined in terms of their
structure and the active ingredients and the products they supply. The
non-crop pesticide interests of the major companies are discussed in
depth. Market growth is expected to be driven further by the consolidation
of manufacturers as a result of mergers.
The
non-crop market is targeted at fewer pests and is not yet large enough to
warrant development of specific pesticides. Much of the control products
rely on customers disposing of trapped pests, particularly in the
home.
Another factor affecting the market is
consumer awareness of the effects of pesticides on human health and the
environment. Pest control operators are increasingly using Integrated Pest
Management (IPM) methods to meet this need and to enable them to be viewed
as professionals. In the US, the use of pesticides in schools is of
particular concern and the use of IPM is actively encouraged.
Environmental groups in the US have found that pressing for control
through local legislation best influences pest reduction strategies. To
date six US states have introduced the mandatory use of
IPM.
As disposable income increases in the
leisure sector there is an increasing demand for pesticides used to treat
amenity turf. Golf is growing in popularity on a global scale and courses
receive a high level of inputs including pesticides. Agricultural IPM
methods are beginning to be implemented within turf management
regimes.
Susan Watkins, World Non-Agricultural Pesticide Market (DS-191), Agrow Reports, 18/20 Hill Rise, Richmond, Surrey TW10 6UA, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 8332 8965/66, £795, 2000, 127pp. www.pjbpubs.co.uk/agrep, Agrow offers it’s reports at half price to non-profit organisations.
Impact
of pesticides in Latin America
In the
countries of the Andean region and the southern cone of South America,
millions of peasant farmers, agricultural and forestry workers, indigenous
communities, residents close to farmland and consumers have been exposed
to significant amounts of pesticides throughout their lives. Most of these
people have been exposed unknowingly or unwillingly through their work
duties or via residues in food and other household inputs and few of them
are aware of the impact of these substances on their health or their local
environment. Given the conditions in these countries, there is little
guarantee that these pesticides have been applied according to supposed
‘safe use’ practices.
Due to the excessive pesticide
use in South American countries, and the social and environmental impact
associated with increasing pesticide use, the Latin American Observatory
on Environmental Conflicts has compiled a register of environmental
conflicts over pesticides in Bolivia, Peru and Chile. The register gives
an estimate of the scale of the problem and provides information for
decision makers to prevent and reduce the environmental and health risks
provoked by pesticide use.
Register of Environmental Conflicts over Pesticides: Bolivia, Peru, Chile. Ed. Maria Elena Rozas, Observatorio Latinoamericano de Conflictos Ambientales, Santiago, Chile. 1999. Available only in Spanish.
Citizens’ action in
Chile
The use of pesticides is related to
growing environmental pollution and degradation at local and global
levels; loss of biodiversity; proven harm to the health of workers exposed
to pesticides; and risks to the general public. These problems, along with
new threats from the introduction and release of genetically modified
organisms, have stimulated NGOs, workers and consumers’ associations,
universities and others to study the effects of pesticides and GM crops
and products on health and the environment. They have also mounted various
campaigns and programmes for legislative reform, public awareness raising
and education on labour, environmental and consumer rights, as well as on
ecological farming technologies.
It is increasingly
recognized that policies and problems in environmental and public health
should not be left solely to the government, commerce and industrial
sectors but should be tackled with the active participation of those
directly affected by pesticides. In practice the governments of the region
remain far from meaningful environmental democracy.
Citizens’ Control of Supervision and Reduction in Pesticide Use, Proceedings of a seminar held 25-27 May 1999 in Santiago, Chile, RAP-AL Alianza por una Mejor Calidad de Vida (PAN-Chile), 1999. Available only in Spanish.
100 years
of Dutch plant protection
The Netherlands’
Plant Protection Service celebrated its centenary in 1999 with a
conference and two volumes. The proceedings are published as
International plant protection policy and market development, a
paperback collection of 14 short essays covering the areas of trends in
agriculture and agribusiness; consumer concerns, Codex and the World Trade
Organisation; and the role of governments and regional organisations. The
heavier volume, Plants and Politics, contains a selection of seven
much longer papers with commentaries. An interesting history of plant
protection – including issues such as governance, farmer knowledge and the
fragmentation of responsibilities – by Jan Koeman and Jan Zadoks is
followed by Tim Josling’s comprehensive review of trends in food markets
and trade policy. There are equally lengthy reviews of the International
Plant Protection Convention, and the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary
Agreements. The volume concludes with the importance of multinational food
companies and the need to resolve issues of environmental and agricultural
protection as against free trade.
G. Meester, R.D. Woittiez and A.de Zeeuw (Eds), Plants
and Politics. Wageningen Pers, Wageningen, Netherlands, 1999,
255pp.
R.A. Ackerman & M.J.P.J. Jenniskens (Eds), International
plant protection policy and market development: on the threshold of a new
WTO round, Proceedings of the Centenary Conference of Netherlands’ Plant
Protection Service, 4-5 November 1999, Wageningen Pers, Wageningen,
Netherlands, 2000, 120 pp.
Bt review
The World Health Organisation has produced a monograph on the
health and environmental effects of microbial pest control agents based on
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). This bacterium is also a key source
for genetic modification (GM) to provide pest resistance in plants. The GM
impacts are beyond remit of this report.
WHO
considers Bt products may be safely used for the control of insect pests
of agricultural and horticultural pests as well as forests. They are also
safe for use in aquatic environments including drinking-water reservoirs
for the control of mosquito, black fly and nuisance insect larvae.
However, during its vegetative growth stage Bt has the potential for the
production of toxins similar to those produced by the related bacteria
Bacillus cereus, the significance of which as a cause of human disease is
not known.
Bacillus thuringiensis, Environmental Health Criteria, 217, WHO, 2111 Geneva 27, Switzerland, 1999, Sw. fr. 27, 105pp.
Global
directory
The Crop Protection Directory
second international edition provides access to over 1,500 key public and
private sector organisation and consultants operating internationally. The
new edition contains 200 new entries.
Crop Protection Directory 2nd Edition, BCPC, Bear Farm, Binfield, Bracknell, RG42 5QE, UK, Fax +44 (0)118 934 1998, http://www.bcpc.org/, £135/$284.
[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 48, June 2000, page 19]