Environmental risk of chemical agriculture - Environmental Deterioration and Contamination: Problems and their Management - page 105

pesticide sales grew by 2.6-8.3% annually, with double-digit percentage gains in prod-
uct categories of fungicides and seed treatments, moreover, with an additional 5.5%
growth forecasted until 2017 (Rojas, 2012; FAO, 2013). In parallel, sales of fake
pesticides represent market proportions as high as 25% of supplies in some Euro-
pean countries, believed to be coming from China as main exporter and Russia as a
transshipment country. (The proportion of the illegal pesticide market is estimated to
be 15?30% in Russia.) To eliminate this problem, targeted police investigations on
fake pesticides have been carried out recently in Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy,
Poland and Spain. As for plant protection product subcategories between 1992 and
2003, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and other biocides represented 35.0

± 1.9%,

43.5 1.7%, respectively. An interesting pesticide mar-

ket development was that fungicides took over the leading position of herbicides after
1992. In contrast, the European market was dominated again by herbicides in 2011
with market segmentation of plant protection products of 41%, 36%, 14% and 9%
by herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and speciality products, with main markets in
France, Germany, Italy and Spain (Mereu, 2012).
The maps in Figures 4.7A-4.7C show the pesticide use per unit area of arable
land over the EU (Nixon et al., 2000). Generally, usage is higher in Western Europe
than in Northern or Eastern Europe. The greatest herbicide usage occurs in Belgium
(and in the Netherlands), while Italy and Malta are peak consumers in fungicides and
insecticides. It has to be mentioned, however, that total usage figures include (and are
dominated by) sulfur and copper products used in vineyards, orchards and on organic
farms.
Total of pesticide sales vary greatly across European countries and years, from
particularly high levels in Malta (in 2003) to a lesser extent in Italy and Belgium
(above 6 kg per ha of utilized agricultural area) and to rather low levels in Sweden
and Estonia (0.5 kg per ha or less) (Figure 4.8). To some degree, these differences
reflect the climatic conditions, and the types of farming practiced and varying pesticide
prices.
As discussed above in the context of pesticide registration, pesticide-active ingre-
dients are subject to recurrent re-registration processes, in the scope of which a strict
pesticide re-registration program was launched in the EU in 1993. The process started
with 959 active ingredients scheduled in four groups (Figure 4.9), of which only 27%
(259 active ingredients) qualified on the positive list (accepted registration status),
classified in the following 16 categories: acaricides, attractants, bactericides, elicitors,
fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, molluscicides, nematicides, plant activators, plant
growth regulators, repellants, rodenticides, soil treatment agents, virus inoculation
agents, pruning agents, safeners, synergists and other treatments. Especially pesticide-
active ingredients with mutagenic activity were rejected in high numbers (Darvas &
Székács, 2006). In certain cases, re-registration under the new, stricter regulations was
not even requested by the owner. In other cases, re-registration of voluntarily with-
drawn active ingredients (76 compounds) was applied for by the owner. Rejected active
ingredients include:

± 3.6%, 11.6 ± 2.0% and 9.9 ±

- Insecticides: chlorinated hydrocarbons e.g., lindane for its persistence,

organophosphates, e.g., dichlorvos for its mutagenicity and 2B carcinogenic-
ity classification on the IARC list of genotoxic substances (Waters et al., 2000;