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Alternative Approaches to Pesticide Regulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2017

Erik Lichtenberg
Erik Lichtenberg*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland at College Park
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Extract

Pesticide regulation has become a topic of increasing interest in recent years, owing to rising public concerns about residues on foods, in drinking-water wells, and damage to wildlife. Public-opinion polls and political responses to incidents like the controversy over Alar suggest that demand for government intervention to protect public health and the environment from pesticides is high. Pesticides are toxic by design; survey evidence indicates that they are perceived as riskier than other, more common pollutants like auto exhaust (see, for example, Horowitz). Pesticide residues are not easily observable (short of laboratory analysis), making averting strategies by individuals extremely difficult and/or excessively costly to implement.

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Type
Invited Presentation
Information
Northeastern Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , October 1992 , pp. 83 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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Footnotes

I am grateful to John Horowitz for numerous insightful comments, although the usual disclaimer of responsibility applies. This research was supported in part by the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under cooperative agreement 58-3AEM-8-0065. Scientific Article no. A-6364, Contribution no. 8548 of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station.

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