Risk-based priorities for pesticide management initiatives

Agricultural pesticide applications in tropical countries may not be subject to the same types of regulations as in the United States. To guide environmental protection efforts for multinational agribusiness firms operating in such countries, a risk-based Pesticide Priority System has been developed. Using simple equations that combine information on use, chemical and physical properties, transport and fate, human and ecosystem exposure conditions, and toxicity, the system computes indexes for several potential pathways of exposure. The indexes can be used to suggest where further environmental protection efforts are justified. Example results are presented for a fungicide and a nematicide.