2000-2001 Pesticide Market Estimates: Usage (Page 3)

3.7  Most Commonly Used Conventional Pesticide Active Ingredients in the U.S. Non-Agricultural Market Sectors

Table 3.7 and Table 3.8 show the ten most commonly used conventional pesticide active ingredients in the two non-agricultural sectors (home & garden and industry/commercial/ government) in both 2001 and 1999. In both sectors, 2,4-D was the most used active ingredient, with between eight and eleven million pounds used in the home and garden sector (see Table 3.7), and between 16 and 18 million pounds used in the industry/commercial/ government sector (see Table 3.8). Seven of the top ten in the home and garden sector are herbicides and three are insecticides. Six of the top ten in the industry/commercial/government sector are herbicides, two are fungicides, and two are insecticides. As noted in Table 3.8, due to the fact that some applicators apply pesticide in both markets, there may be some usage reported in one market that may have occurred in the other. The rankings rely on the estimated amount used of conventional pesticides in the nonagricultural sector taken from EPA proprietary databases.

3.8  Amount of Organophosphate Insecticides Used in the U.S.

Table 3.9 shows the total amount of organophosphate insecticide used in 1980, 1985, and annually since 1990. The top ten active ingredients in this pesticide class include malathion, chlorpyrifos, terbufos, diazinon, methyl-parathion, phorate, acephate, phosmet, azinphos-methyl, and dimethoate (see Table 3.10). Since the passage of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) in 1996, this class of conventional pesticides has been a primary focus of EPA reregistration activities. For more information on the active ingredients included in this pesticide class and their reregistration and registration status, go to the U.S. EPAÂ's Office of Pesticide Programs Website.

The amount of organophosphate insecticides used has declined nearly 45% since 1980, from an estimated 131 million pounds in 1980 to 73 million pounds in 2001 (see Figure 3.4). Since 1980, however, organophosphate use as a percent of total insecticide use has increased, from 58% in 1980 to 70% in 2001. The increase in use in 1999 was due mainly to the increased amount of malathion used as part of the USDA-sponsored Boll Weevil Eradication Program . Malathion use in this program decreased over the last two years, resulting in a decline in total organophosphate use. The estimates of organophosphate insecticide use rely on the estimated amount used and changes in the amount used of organophosphates from public and proprietary EPA databases.