There are 7,200 registered biocide products used in Australian agriculture. (Infopest 2004. Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.) This is similar in the USA and Europe. (cited from 'The Myths of Safe Pesticides', Andre Leu. See: http://www.ofa.org.au/papers/Mythpesticidesv2.html).
'The sales of insecticides increased by some 40% to some $500 million between 1998 and 1999'.(Pesticide Use in Australia' report by ATSE).
Similar rises were experienced for herbicides.
" "Sales of agricultural chemicals by members of the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Association (AVCA), which represent about 90-95 per cent of the market in Australia, grew from $437 million in 1987 to $547 million in 1988, representing about two per cent of the total world market". (ACA, How Safe is Our Food? 1991)."
Cited in: MONITORING FOOD SAFETY - CHEMICAL RESIDUES
http://www.regional.org.au/au/roc/1992/roc1992059.htm
Suzanne Russell,Senior Lecturer in Consumer Science, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Melbourne, Vic. 3000
From 1945 to 1995 there was a 50 fold increase in the use of pesticides worldwide. From 50 million kilograms to 2.5 billion kilograms. (Pimental, 1997).
" To illustrate the magnitude of the pesticide problem for bees, the quantity of pesticides produced and sold in the United States has increased every year since 1957, except for 1969 and 1970, when there were slight decreases. Production of synthetic organic pesticides in the United States in 1974 amounted to more than 1.4 billion pounds (709,000 tons). Of the total production, 650 million pounds were insecticides. Even after taking imports and exports into account, slightly more than half the production, 400,000 tons, of pesticide was applied in the United States (Fowler and Mahan 1976). Currently, there are more than 50 insecticides in common use with moderate to high toxicity to honey bees (Atkins 1977)." (As cited from: Pesticides1 and Honey Bee Mortality (From Beekeeping in the United States) By: William T. Wilson, Philip E. Sonnet, and Adair Stoner 2 at: http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/bkCD/Pollination/Pesticides_Mortality.html )
"According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the total US pesticide usage in 1992 (excluding wood preservatives and disinfectants) was 1.1 billion pounds of active ingredients. This impressive figure does not taken into account the so-called inert ingredients in pesticide formulations, which can be higher in concentration and more toxic than the active ingredients. And it does not include pesticides used outside agriculture in 69 million households, a not inconsiderable usage amounting to a third of the quantity used in agriculture.
US agriculture also consumes enormous amounts of fertilizer. Total consumption of nitrogen, phosphate, and potash increased dramatically between 1960 and 1980, reaching a high of 23.7 million nutrient tons in 1981. Fertilizer use has fallen somewhat since then, amounting to 20.7 million tons in 1992." (From Mark Jones, posted to the LBO Talk list on 2nd July 2001
Pesticide Market Usage Estimate for the USA for 2000-2001 can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/oppbead1/pestsales/01pestsales/historical_data2001.html
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