Book reviews - Pesticides News No.53

Pesticide case studies –
Cotton-rice systems in Côte d’Ivoire and Coffee in Costa Rica
The Pesticide Policy Project of the University of Hannover has produced two more insightful case studies. The objective of the project is to help governments understand the range of problems that pesticides present in their countries and to identify direct and indirect costs to farmers and to society when pesticides are overused.
    Significant impacts on farmers’ health and the environment are frequently unrecognised in developing countries. Often government policies are inadvertently promoting pesticide use, and cutting off more sustainable and rewarding alternatives. Indeed, as both these studies demonstrate, the productivity effects of pesticide use may also be overvalued. When untrained farmers use pesticides, particularly in monoculture systems, there is a tendency to overuse products, and for pest resistance to arise. Costly pesticides are then sprayed to no effect, but farmers do not have information to help them adopt alternative strategies.
    The Côte d’Ivoire study shows that with cotton intensification, farmers have increased yields, but become highly dependent on pesticide use. This appears to be leading to the development of pest resistance for cotton pests. Farmers over-estimate the damage from pests, and overuse pesticides. The cotton parastatal company has systematically discouraged farmers from the use of other pest management practices, even though IPM alternatives would benefit farmers.
    In Costa Rica, legislation on crop protection and pesticide use has made considerable progress over the last 20 years, and has promoted IPM as an alternative. However IPM has rarely been adopted and the study lays out the practical and policy constraints on farmers. The report and recommendations are focused on the benefits of introducing a pesticide tax in the coffee sector.
    Detailed studies and policy recommendations on this level are rare, and serious students of pesticides and agricultural development strategies, or those interested in cotton, coffee should get copies.

Stefan Agne, The Impact of Pesticide Taxation on Pesticide Use and Income in Costa Rica’s Coffee Production, Special Issue Publication No. 2, March 2000.
Oluyede OC Ajayi, Pesticide Use Practices, Productivity and Farmers’ Health: the Case of Cotton-Rice Systems in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, Special Issue Publication Series No. 3, November 2000.

Both from the University of Hannover, Pesticide Policy Project and GTZ. Institute of Horticultural Economics, Herrenhauser Str. 2, D-30419 Hannover, Germany. Email contact waibel@ifgb.uni-hannover.de, www.ifgb.uni-hannover.de/ppp/

Biopesticide markets
The latest report from Agrow presents a detailed study of the biopesticide industry, products and markets. A biopesticide is defined as a micro-organism such as a bacterium, virus, fungus, microscopic nematode worm, or microsporidium, or part of a micro-organism. The report acknowledges that the main advantage of biopesticides is their reduced environmental damage and reduced risks to human health.
    The bacterium Bacillus thuringensis (Bt) dominates the biopesticide market. Global biopesticide sales accounted for about $160 million in 2000, of which over 90% was due to the sales of Bt products. The market is largely driven by consumer, retailer, and government pressure to minimise the use of chemical pesticides. Key areas of commercial potential include organic farming; integrated pest management; resistance management programmes; and high value speciality crops, where the development of conventional pesticides is discouraged by the cost of registration. Factors that limit the growth of the market include the fragmented nature of the industry; low levels of interest in the agrochemical industry; high production costs; difficulties in formulation and application; and a lack of commercial awareness on the part of the manufacturers.
    The biopesticide industry is dominated by small to medium sized companies, that are often ‘start-up’ enterprises based on a single new technology of commercial potential. Many are linked to academic institutions and are driven by new technologies rather than by market demand and opportunities. Failure rates are relatively high, due to the difficulties of bringing to market a novel pest control agent, marketing and distribution difficulties, and a lack of awareness of the market potential for new products. The larger biopesticide companies are those that have survived the initial start-up problems and have gone on to grow, often through mergers and acquisitions. Few of the leading global pesticide companies have biopesticide divisions of their own, and many of the investments that were made in the biopesticide divisions in the 1980s have divested in recent years. The major exception to this is in Japan, where several large pesticide companies have recently invested.
    The market for Bt products is examined in detail. The commercial potential of Brevibacillus brevis as a biocontrol agent is discussed, and 48 other new biopesticide products are reviewed. The report includes a case study of the commercialisation of the biofungal product, Trichodex. The 40 or so leading pesticide manufacturing and development companies are profiled.

Philip Jarvis, Biopesticides: trends and opportunities, Agrow Reports, PJB Publications, 18/20 Hill Rise, Richmond, Surrey, TW10 6UA, UK, Fax +44 (0)20 8322 8992, www.pjbpubs.com/agrow, August 2001, 98pp. Agrow offers its reports at half price to non-profit organisations, www.agrowreports.com

Organic farming – myth and reality
Organic (ecological) food and farming is under the spotlight. More people are buying organic products, but at the same time more questions are being asked about the authenticity of organic food and farming.
This booklet examines some of the key issues around organic food and its production. It takes up the challenge of answering the critics – who range from public relations companies defending agrochemical business, through to the heads of national food authorities and some academics. It exposes the misleading and erroneous statements made against organic food, and provides the facts that prove them wrong.
In particular the booklet examines six myths:

Organic foods are no healthier than non-organic foods Wrong: food produced organically contains fewer contaminants. Some scientific studies have shown that there are more nutrients in organically produced food.
Organic farming increases the risk of food poisoning False: organic farming can actually reduce the risk
Organic farming uses pesticides that damage the environment Untrue: organic farming systems rely upon prevention rather than cure, minimising the need for pesticides.
Consumers are paying too much for organic food Not so: crop rotations, organic animal feed and welfare standards, the use of good husbandry instead of agrochemicals, and the preservation of natural habitats all result in organic food costing more to produce. Non-organic food appears to be cheaper but in fact consumers pay for it three times over – first over the counter, second via taxation (to fund agricultural subsidies), and third to remedy the environmental pollution (or disasters like BSE) caused by intensive farming practices.
Organic food cannot feed a hungry world False: intensive farming destroys the fertility of the land and is unsustainable. Organic methods help labour-rich cash-poor communities to produce food sustainably.
Organic farming is unkind to animals Far from it: animal welfare and the freedom to behave naturally is central to organic livestock standards.

These myths are generated by organisations with particular interests to defend. This booklet looks at myth makers and provides a counter prospective.

Catherine Fookes, Organic food and farming, myth and reality, Soil Association www.soilassociation.org, and SUSTAIN (the alliance for better food and farming), www.sustainweb.org, 31pp.

Women and IPM
In the developing world, day-to-day crop management is often women’s work. Yet while women are continually confronted by pests and their effects, their knowledge is often ignored instead of being put to use in agricultural decision making. Their important role in agriculture often remains invisible. In addition to empowerment and equity, involving women can provide significant support to crop protection programmes.
Most chapters of this book relate to integrated pest management (IPM). Practical lessons on women’s roles in crop protection and ways to increase access to IPM information and training are evident. Accessibility is critical, but who holds the power to design courses or select trainers and participants, and who has the expert knowledge of jobs within the official hierarchy, must also be taken into account. These cases are pioneering effects, showing the interrelationships among social structure, power relations, and processes such as the privatisation of farm services that may accompany changes in farm co-operatives. They provide not only clear analyses of situations, but also strategies for change. Many also demonstrate the continuing need for IPM as a crop protection strategy with the potential to enhance the sustainability of small farm enterprises, hence directly improving the livelihoods of many rural women.
Chapters from Bhutan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Russia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Tanzania, and Ghana are accompanied by an epilogue from Janice Jiggens.

Women and IPM: crop protection practices and strategies Royal Tropical Institute, KIT Press, Mauritskade 63, PO Box 95001, 1090 HA Amsterdam, Holland, Fax +31 (0)20 5688 286, 2000, 107pp.

Residues in fish
On the whole less than half a percent of all the meat, fish eggs and dairy products tested in 2000 had any detectable residue of veterinary medicines (including those used as pesticides), according to the latest report from the UK Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD).
    Whilst most areas are reassuring, there are some results, particularly involving fish, that are causing the authorities some concern.
    Four Scottish salmon samples out of 120 tested contained residues of invermectin at concentrations between 3 and 8 µg/kg (parts per billion). The VMD consider it unlikely that these levels will pose a risk to consumers, although there is no set maximum residue level (MRL) for invermectin in trout. Neither is invermectin authorised for use in fish. There are limited circumstances when it can be prescribed, under ‘cascade’ provisions, which cover veterinary medicinal products. Before it can be legally administered to salmon, the farmer must also have a discharge consent from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. At present there are no valid consents covering invermectin.The four samples have been the subject of follow up investigation, and the relevant papers have been sent to legal advisers to consider further action.
    Three out of 20 samples of Norwegian salmon contained residues of cis-chlordane at 25-30 µg/kg, and another sample contained a residue of oxychlordane at 7 µg/kg. These substances are breakdown products of chlordane, an organochlorine insecticide that is obsolete in Western Europe. There is no MRL for chlordane in fish.
    Residues below the MRL of pp-DDE, a breakdown product of DDT, were confirmed in 3 of 20 samples of imported lamb. These were at concentrations of up to 60 µg/kg (whole weight basis) and 620 µg/kg (fat weight basis). Three of 20 samples of trout also contained residues of pp-DDE in the range 140-190 µg/kg. There is no MRL for DDT residues in fish.
    Residues of leucomalachite green (LMG) continue to cause a problem in trout (see PN 51 p16). Eight out of 70 samples contained concentrations between 3 and 180 µg/kg. Malachite green [MG] (of which LMG is a breakdown product) has never been authorised as a veterinary medicine. It has industrial/chemical uses including as a dye, and as an acid-base indicator. The lack of authorised products for use in the trout industry has meant for many years producers have used this substance. The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment is concerned that MG and LMG may be carcinogenic and mutagenic.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate Annual Report on Surveillance for Veterinary Residues in 2000, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 128pp. Free copies at www.open.gov.uk/vmd

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GE guide for consumers
Stormy debates about genetically engineered (GE) food have raged throughout Asia and Europe, particularly in the UK, where BSE has ignited activism and outrage about food safety. Now as the GE food debate gains momentum in the US and elsewhere around the world, two leading consumer advocates provide a comprehensive review of the risks pose by GE foods.
Ronnie Cummins and Ben Lilliston discuss the ethical, environmental, and health arguments against GE food, how these foods are being regulated in the US and abroad, and why consumers are opposing them.
The book offers detailed information about, how to identify the types of food most likely to be GE, and where the major food companies, supermarkets, and restaurant chains stand on the issue, and which food companies and stores are going GE-free.

Ronnie Cummins and Ben Lilliston, Genetically engineered food, A self defence guide for consumers, Marlowe and Co 841 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10003, US, www.marlowepub.com, 2001, 208pp. Order direct from Amazon.co.uk.

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Economics and politics of GMOs
The first part of this book provides a comprehensive overview of the science, economics, and politics of the use of agricultural GMOs, with in depth coverage of the three most-widely used - Bt corn and cotton and Glyphosate-resistant soybeans.
The second part of the book contains a collection of chapters written from widely different perspectives by leading figures in the debates - representatives from the American Corn Growers Association, the European Commission, Centre for Global Food Issues, Sainsbury's and the Biotechnology Industry Organisation.
Part three provides more detailed information on selected topics including the history of biotechnology innovations, the techniques of biotechnology, the latest research on the consequences of Bt corn for the monarch butterfly, and a list of European GMO field trial approvals.

Gerald Nelson, Genetically Modified Organisms in Agriculture, Economics and Politics, Academic Press, www.academicpress.com, 2001, 344pp. Order direct from Amazon.co.uk.

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Redesigning life?
Genetic engineering, (GE) animal cloning and new reproductive technologies are being promoted as the keys to a more productive agriculture, wondrous medical miracles, and solutions to pressing environment problems. But a growing number of farmers, scientists and concerned citizens disagree, citing new hazards to our health and the environment, along with troubling ethical questions.
This book offers the first comprehensive examination of the hidden hazards of the new genetic technologies and the emergence of worldwide resistance. Twenty-six internationally respected critics offer their analysis of the issues, their social and ethical implications, and the stories that lie behind the headlines that have brought genetic engineering to the forefront of public controversy.

Brian Tokar (Ed.), Redesigning life? Zed Books, 7 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF, Fax +44 (0)20 7833 3960, 2001, 440pp. Order direct from Amazon.co.uk: Paperback or Hardback

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 53, September 2001, pages 22-23]