The Environmental Protection Agency released a report containing the latest estimates of agricultural and nonagricultural pesticide use in the United States. (Data is from 1998-2007.)
Highlights include:
* Eighty percent of all U.S. pesticide use was in agriculture.
* Herbicides remained the most widely used type of pesticide in the agricultural market sector.
* Among the top 10 pesticides used in terms of pounds applied in the agricultural market were the herbicides glyphosate, atrazine, metolachlor-s, acetochlor, 2,4-D, and pendimethalin, and the fumigants metam sodium, dichloropropene, methyl bromide, and chloropicrin.
* Herbicides were also the most widely used type of pesticide in the home and garden and industrial, commercial, and governmental market sectors, and the herbicides 2,4-D and glyphosate were the most widely used active ingredients.
* Pesticide use in the U.S. was 1.1 billion pounds in 2007, or 22% of the world estimate of 5.2 billion pounds of pesticide use.
* Total pounds of U.S. pesticide use decreased by approximately 8% from 1.2 to 1.1 billion pounds from 2000 to 2007.
* Use of conventional pesticides decreased about 3% from 2002 to 2007 and 11% from 1997 to 2007.
* Organophosphate insecticide use decreased about 44% from 2002 to 2007, 63% from 2000 to 2007, and 55% from 1997 to 2007.
* About 33 million pounds of organophosphate insecticides were applied in 2007.
Source: EPA and University of Florida