Global pesticide consumption and pollution: with China as a focus

Abstract

 Varieties and consumption of pesticides worldwide have been increasing dramatically as increased human population and crop production. In this process pesticide misuses become more and more serious, which has resulted in heavy environmental pollution and health risk of humans. In order to safeguard human health, threatened species and ecosystems from pesticide pollution, the consumption and pollution of pesticides worldwide especially China were reviewed and documented in present study. Meanwhile, the development trend of pesticide varieties and consumption was also prospected and discussed. It was found that worldwide consumption structure of pesticides has undergone significant changes since 1960s. The proportion of herbicides in pesticide consumption increased rapidly and the consumption of insecticides and fungicides/bactericides declined. China has become the largest pesticide producer and exporter in the world. Pesticide pollution of air, water bodies and soils, and pesticide-induced deaths in China has been serious in past years. Bio-pesticides should be further developed in the future. 

Keywords pesticides; consumption; pollution; world; review.

 1 Introduction 

1.1 Definition of pesticide 

A pesticide is any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest (insects, mites, nematodes, weeds, rats, etc.), including insecticide, herbicide, fungicide, and various other substances used to control pests (EPA, 2009). Definition of pesticide varied with times and countries. However, the essence of pesticide remains basically constant, i.e., it is a (mixed) substance that is poisonous and efficient to target organisms and is safe to non-target organisms and environments. 1.2 History of pesticide production and application The history of pesticides can be divided into three phases (Zhang et al., 2001): (1) in the first phase (the period before 1870s) natural pesticides, for instance sulfur in ancient Greece, were used to control pests; (2) the second phase was the era of inorganic synthetic pesticides (the period 1870s-1945). Natural materials and inorganic compounds were mainly used during this period; (3) the third phase (since 1945) is the era of organic synthetic pesticides. Since 1945, the man-made organic pesticides, e.g., DDT, 2,4-D, and later HCH, dieldrin, have terminated the era of inorganic and natural pesticides. Since then most pesticides have been synthesized by humans, and they were named chemical pesticides. The application of chemical pesticides, in particular the  organic synthesized pesticides has been a significant mark of human civilization, which greatly protects and facilitates agricultural productivity. In the earlier period of organic synthesized pesticides, there were mainly three kinds of insecticides, carbamated insecticides, organophosphorus insecticides and organochlorined insecticides. Sooner after that herbicides and fungicides achieved a considerable development as well. The consumption of insecticides is estimated to decline gradually and the use of herbicides would be popular in the future. This trend may be found from the changes of the structure of pesticide consumption worldwide (Table 1).

As can be seen from Table 1, worldwide consumption structure of pesticides has undergone significant changes since 1960s. The proportion of herbicides in pesticide consumption increased rapidly, from 20% in 1960 to 48% in 2005. The proportion of consumption of insecticides and fungicides/bactericides declined despite their sales increased. The rapid increase of herbicide consumption enhanced agricultural intensification and productivity.