Maybe persistent demagoguery about pesticides since the 1960s! We have been having this discussion about the use of pesticides for several decades! It seems the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages or dangers!
More alarmism and hysteria about pesticides! What are the alternatives (less toxic pesticides, organic agriculture etc.)! Are these alternatives realistic at large scale!
If pesticides were so dangerous, we would be all dead now!
I also have a strong hunch that the metric used in this study, i.e. "total applied toxicity (TAT)" is possibly seriously flawed!
"... a new analysis published last week in Science. Researchers combined safety thresholds from seven international regulatory agencies to follow a single toxicity metric created by the United Nations (UN) called “total applied toxicity” (TAT). They then applied TAT to 625 pesticides, 65 countries, and eight ecological groups including fish, pollinators, terrestrial vertebrates, and even aquatic and terrestrial plants.
The metric revealed that global ecological toxicity increased during the study period of 2013 to 2019. Not all creatures suffered equally; toxicity rose 27% for fish and 43% for terrestrial arthropods, for example. Unsurprisingly, big agricultural powerhouses were big polluters: Brazil, India, Russia, and the United States contributed as much as two-thirds of the toxicity. Crops like fruits, vegetables, maize, soybean, rice, and cereals contributed up to 83% of global TAT. ..."
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
During the 15th United Nations Biodiversity Conference, countries committed to reducing pesticide risk by 50% by 2030. To determine whether the world is on track to do so, Wolfram et al. looked at trends in usage and total applied toxicity (TAT) across more than 600 pesticides and eight species groups globally. They found that TAT has increased for most of these groups, but also that the majority of this impact comes from the 20 or so pesticides most commonly used in agriculture and from the largest crop-producing countries. Increased adoption of organic agriculture and shifts to less toxic pesticides are required to meet global commitments. ...
Abstract
The 15th United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) obligates all countries to reduce pesticide risks by 50% by 2030. In this study, we derived the trends of total applied toxicity (TAT) globally between 2013 and 2019, weighting applied masses by ecotoxicity, of 625 pesticides for eight species groups to assess pathways toward this reduction goal.
We found that the TAT of most species groups has increased; that only 20 ± 14 pesticides per group define >90% of the TAT nationally;
that fruits, vegetables, maize, soybean, rice, and other cereals contribute 76 to 83% of the global TAT; and that
China, Brazil, the United States, and India contribute 53 to 68% of the global TAT.
Our target achievement categorization shows that substantial actions, combining shifts to less-toxic pesticides, increased adoption of organic agriculture, and also provision of national pesticide use data, will be required globally to approach the United Nations’ target."
Increasing applied pesticide toxicity trends counteract the global reduction target to safeguard biodiversity (open access)
Fig. 1. Global trends of the total applied toxicity of pesticides used in agriculture.
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