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USEPA Office of Research and Development Western Ecology Laboratory Corvallis, OR 97333
pfleeger.thomas{at}epa.gov
Edited by F. Den Hond, P Groenewegen, and N.M. Van Straalen, Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK. 2003. 256 p. $134.99 hardcover. ISBN 0-632-05659-2.
At first glance one might think that this is another book on chemical pesticide uses, but in reality it is an effort to go beyond—a description of current pesticide practices to outline the next iteration of agricultural pest control. The authors start with assertions that (i) while pesticides have brought enormous benefits, they have done so with a negative effect on the environment and (ii) current food supply and agricultural interests are not sustainable. The authors go on to propose what changes need to be made in regulations, application methodologies, and research to correct these assertions.
The book is based on papers presented at a workshop held in 2000 in the Netherlands. It has been edited to make the transitions between the many different authors' writing styles seem insignificant. The majority of the authors of the 14 chapters are from the Netherlands or have a connection to the Netherlands. This gives the book a decidedly Dutch and European perspective with some insight from North America and other parts of the world. This is beneficial to North American scientists since Europe has been at the forefront of many of the areas under discussion, especially regulatory modifications to decrease negative environmental effects and increase agricultural sustainability.
The book describes current agricultural pest control practices and the historical context of those practices, and proposes the future of pest control from many perspectives including regulatory, social, economic, and environmental. The first half of the book (Chapters 2–7) discusses the persistence of pesticide problems, while Chapters 8 through 13 focus on improvements and alternatives to current practices. The authors propose that pest control management in the past has been driven by pesticide manufacturers, who have competitively sought growers with newer and better products. There has been a growing transition from manufacturers' influence to large retailers and consumers demanding alternative pest control measures. This is leading to technologies that are more efficient in the use of agrochemical inputs and the outright substitution of more environmentally benign inputs. Organic agricultural products are well defined in the marketplace, demanding higher prices and an increasing market share, while growers who are more efficient in their use of conventional pesticides have lower expenditures in the traditional marketplace. In many countries, these economic incentives are also encouraged by governmental economic and regulatory polices that reduce real or perceived risk to humans and the environment.
This is a technical book and is recommended to professionals interested in the future directions of pest control methods and the philosophy behind them. It would also make a good book for graduate student discussion groups, in part, due to the approximately 10-page chapter size, lending each chapter to a thorough discussion in about an hour.
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