With the exceptions of phosphine, which is applied to
the grain or seed mass in tableted form, HeN and methyl
bromide which are applied in gaseous form and calcium
cyanide, which is usually applied as a granular product,
these formulations are liquids and are applied to grain,
the seeds or other commodities in various liquid formulations in terms of pounds or units of volume per weight
or volume of grain or other commodity (gallons, pounds
or tablets per 1000 bushels or tons).
Packaging Fumigants
ethyl formate
methyl formate
These chemicals are usually applied in terms of unit
volumes per unit weight of commodity during the packaging process (milliliters per pound of commodity).
Household Fumigants
carbon tetrachloride
ethylene dichloride
naphthalene
p-dichlorobenzene
These products are applied in dosages expressed as
ounces or pounds of the chemical per unit volume of
tightly confined storage space. They are ordinarily used
only as small scale fumigants for trunks, cupboard and
storage closets by householders.
There may also be other forms of qualified fumigation
treatments with any of the foregoing or with other chemicals. These should be carefully described in each case in
order to avoid confusing them with previously recorded
procedures. This statement is issued for the benefit of
persons publishing data on fumigants of various types in
the Society's publications.
Soil Fumigants
chloropicrin
ethylene dibromide
methyl bromide
These chemicals are applied to the soil at dosages calculated in terms of pounds or ounces of the chemical per
HOWARD
BAKER
J. V. OSMUN
HENRY HURTIG
J. E. BUSSART
unit area of soil surface.
USE OF INSECTICIDES IN THE UNITED
DAVID G. HALL, ChairmaH
Committee on Public Information
J. E.
BROGDON
S. C.
BILLINGS,
ChairmalJ
STATES
In General, These Data Indicate That•
less than 5 percent of the acreage of the 48 States
have insecticides applied on them in an average year.
This report concerns the amount of insecticidal chemicals used in an average year in the United States (minus
Alaska and Hawaii) and the acreage of various categories of land upon which they are applied.
It is important to know what kinds of land insecticides
are applied on and at what rates they are applied.
Although such information
has been seriously needed
for some time, this is the first attempt to assemble the
necessary data.
•
only 41 hundredths of one percent of the total area
generally considered favorable to wildlife, such as forests,
grassland pastures, wildlands and the like (categories
2-6) have insecticides applied on them in an average year.
•
85 percent of the acreage planted by U.S. farmers
and ranchers to crops each year is not treated with
insecticides.
The report furnishes estimates of the total poundage
of insecticidal chemicals used in an average year, the
amounts applied to each category, the acreages treated
and the percentages in each category of treated and
untreated acreage.
In Relatioll to Forest Lands, These Data Indicate That•
an average of not to exceed 1,723,000 pounds of
insecticidal chemical are applied at the rate of less than
one pound per acre each year for control of destructive
forest insects.
Figures given for acres of forest and permanent
pastureland and the pounds of insecticides applied upon
them are exact. All other figures are estimates furnished
by entomologists and other scientist consultants most
capable of furnishing such information.
Estimates given
for agricultural acreage treated do not differ materially
from statistically sound poll-type market surveys conducted in 1961.
•
acres
•
about
upon
less than 3 tenths of one percent of our 640 million
of forest lands are treated in an average year.
at least 613 million acres of our forest lands, or
95 percent, never have had an insecticide applied
them.
In Relatioll to Permanent Grassland Pasture,
These Data Indicate That•
an average of not more than 200,000 pounds of
insecticidal chemical is applied at the rate of 2 ounces an
acre on our permanent grassland pastures each year for
control of grasshoppers, the Mormon cricket and other
pastureland insect pests.
The following tables show where insecticides are
used. These tables were developed to give mon, significance to the role of insecticides as they affect agriculture
and our total economy.
Total Pounds of Insecticides Used.The total quantity of insecticidal chemicals (active
ingredients) used in an average year in the contiguous
United States is estimated to be 225,000,000 pounds.
•
less than 3 tenths of one percent of our 630 million
acres of permanent grassland pastures arc treated with
an insecticide in an average year.
This poundage includes only the actual active ingredients such as the organic insecticides DDT and relatives,
chlordane and relatives, benzene hexachloride and relatives, the phosphates such as malathion, parathion and
relatives, the inorganic insecticides such as lead and
calcium arsenate and the botanical insecticides such as
pyrethrum and rotenone.
•
at least 610 million acres of our permanent grassland pasture, almost 97 percent, never have had an
insecticide applied upon them.
Poundages of fumigants and inert materials used for
formulating purposes such as water, petroleum distillates,
talc, sulfur and colloidal substances are omitted.
•
no more than 2,500,000 pounds of insecticidal
chemicals are applied to open salt and fresh water
swampland each year at the rate of one pound per acre
In Relation to Mosquito Control,
These Data Indicate That-
90
TABLE I.-Where
Major
1.
Uses of Land
TOTAL
e 48
ACREAGE,
are Applied.
Acreage Upon
Which Insecticides
Are Applied
Acres In Category:
U.S.
Insecticides
Acreage Upon
Which Insecticides
Are Not Applied
1,845,072,000
89,500,000
1,934,572,000'
Percent of Acres in
Category Upon
Which Insecticides
Are Applied
4.62
States)
638,200,000
.28
LANDS
640,000,000
1,800,000"
(Includes forested grazing lands, or range, including federal range used by permit, reserved forest land in
parks, wildlife refuges, and national defense areas.)
1,600,000·
I
628,400,000
I
.25
3. GRASSI,AND PASTURE
I
630,000,000
I
(Open permanent pasture and range, private, State and Federal grassland range used for grazing; excludes
cropland pasture.)
2.
FOREST
4.
OTHER NON-FORESTED
SPECIAL USE AREAS
(Non-forested
5.
MISCELLANEOUS
LAND
[
45,000,000
parks and wildlife refuges,
O'I'HERj
I
I
45,000,000
duck reserves and national defense sites.)
I
I
74,500,000
77,000,000
2,500,000" •
(Deserts, sand dunes, wildlands, open salt and fresh water swamps.)
I
32,572,000
I
6. WATER AREAS
I
32,572,000
I
(Includes reservoirs, ponds, and lakes of over 40 acres in size and streams and canals of ~
in width.)
Totals
of Categories
7.
URBAN AND OTHER
BurLT-UP
AREAS
(Cities, towns, industrial
8.
5,900,000
1,424,572,000
2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
53,000,000
15,000,000" •
sites, armed forces installations, airports,
CROPLAND AND CROPLAND PASTURE
Totals of Categories
7 and 8
457,000,000
68.600,000"
510,000,000
83,600,000
1,418,672,000
3.24
mile or more
.41
28.30
38,000,000
etc.)
railroad and highway rights-of-way,
15.0
388,400,000
426,400,000
16.39
1 Includes
6,925,000 acres in ponds and lakes of less than 40 acres in size and streams and canals of less than 1/8 mile in width
not treated with insecticides.
"Actual 5·year averai(e.
8 Estimated
5·year average .
• Includes private home, lawn, garden insect and termite control, industrial insect control, municipal fly and mosquito. street tree
and park planting insect control and public insect control on highway rights-of·way.
S Includes
all public and private mosquito control on all salt and fresh water swamps and marshes.
by
mosquito control districts
for
control
of
acreS for insect control purposes to protect their crops,
disease-
their livestock, their health and their possessions on 457
million acres as follows:
•
6,211,500 pounds are applied on 2,070,600 acres
of vegetable crops,
bearing and annoying mosquitoes.
•
the acreage treated annually is less than one tenth
the area of that which produces disease-bearing mosquitoes.
111 Rclatioll to Urban and Other Built-Up
Areas,
These Estimates Indicate That•
in our urban areas, in which 169,000,000 of our
people live, at least 55,750,000 pounds of technical insecticidal chemicals are used on 15 million acres for insect
control purposes as follows:
•
15,806,000 pounds are applied on 2,258,000 acres
of fruit and nut crops,
•
90,000,000 pounds are applied on 15,816,000 acres
of cotton,
•
34,482,000 pounds are applied on 32,482,000 acres
of cereal grains, rice, corn and feed sorghums,
•
2,675,000 pounds are used by the combined military
services to protect the health and comfort of military
personnel and to protect equipment, clothing and housing
from destruction.
•
19,372,000 pounds are applied on 19,927,000 acres
of hay crops, seed crops, peanuts, sugar cane and sugar
beets, soybeans, flax and all other plant crops not
further identified,
•
8,075,000 pounds, or more, are used by industry in
stockyards and packing plants, grocery stores and meat
markets, restaurants, cafeterias and other eating places,
bars, taverns, movies and clubs, hotels, motels and rooming- houses, warehouses, grain elevators, flour and feed
mills and other commercial establishments.
•
2,155,000 pounds are applied to 200 million head
of livestock and 373 million chickens and turkeys,
•
7,800,000 pounds are applied to barns and sheds,
poultry and brooder houses, bins and cribs and shelters
for livestock on 3,000,000 farms,
•
45,000,000 pounds, or more, are used by homemakers and homeowners to protect their health and comfort, their homes, gardens and possessions on their own
properties and by public authorities to protect park and
street plantings, public buildings and the public health.
In Relation to Agriculture,
These Estimates Illdicate ThatFarmers
and ranchers
use 164,827,000 pounds of
insecticidal chemicals in an average year on 68,600,000
•
68 percent of the poundage of insecticides used in
U.S. agriculture in an average year is applied to less
than 4 percent of the land under the plow.
Where These Data Came FromThis report is based on data furnished by the best
informed entomologists, economists and consultants of
federal, state and private agencies, as follows:
91
TABLE 2.-Use
GRAINS
(Includes
4,141,000
2,822,600
I
Croplands.
A. Insecticides
Not Applied On
Avg. No. Pounds
Applied Per A.
184,107,500
1.0
15.0
2,070,500
2,070,500
3.0
50.0
2,258,000
564,600
7.0
80.0
I
216,590,000
I
. 32,482,500
corn, feed sorghum and rice.)
VEGETABLES
I
(Includes potatoes.)
FRUITS-NuTS
on U.S.
Percent
of Category
Insecticide
Applied On
A. Insecticides
Applied On
Acreage
CroD
of Insecticides
COTTON
15,816,000
11,862,000
3,954,000
7.5
75.0
ALL OTHER
217,630.400
19,927,000
197,703,400
.5
9.0
(Includes; hay, seed crops, sugar beets and cane, flax, soybeans, peanuts, and all other crops not identified above.)
Totals
I
457,000,000
68,600,000
I
388,400,000
1~.0
1. Poundage of actual insecticidal chemical ingredients
applied in the U.S. Estimates: Chemicals and Fertilizer
Branch, Materials and Facilities Operations, Agricultural
6. Acres of cropland, acres treated and pounds of
insecticidal chemicals used. Estimates;
1960 YearbOOK
of Agricultural Statistics, USDA; Entomology Research
Stabilization
Division, Agricultural
and Conservation
Service,
USDA.
2. Acreages in land categories. Estimates:
Land Use
Section, Land and Water Economics Branch, Economics
Research Service, USDA.
3. Forest acreages treated and pounds of insecticidal
chemicals used. Exact acreage and poundages:
Insect
Control Branch, Division of Forest Pest Control, Forest
Service, USDA.
4. Permanent pasture acreages treated and pounds of
insecticidal chemicals ~tsed. Exact acreage and poundages: Control Operations Planning Branch, Plant Pest
Control Division, Agricultural Research Service, USDA.
5. Acres of open swamps treated for mosq~tito control, and pounds of insecticidal chemicals used. Estimates:
Entomology Research Division, Agricultural
Research
Service, USDA; American Mosquito Control Association.
Research
eral-State Cooperative Extension
Agricultural
Service.
Service,
USDA;
Service, USDA;
Fed-
Doane
7. Acres of urban areas treated and pounds of insecticidal chemicals used. Military.
Exact: Corps of
Engineers, U.S. Army, for the Defense Department.
Public.
Estimates:
Entomology
Research
Division,
Agricultural Research Service, USDA; Market Quality
Research
Division, Agricultural
Marketing
Service,
USDA; Federal-State
Cooperative Agricultural
Extension Service, USDA; National Pest Control Association.
Industry. Estimates:
Market Quality Research Division,
Agricultural
Marketing
Service, USDA;
Entomology
Research
Division,
Agricultural
Research
Service,
USDA; National Pest Control Association.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
THE BIBIONIDAEOF CALIFORNIA,by D. Elmo Hardy, Bulletin of the California Insect Survey Vol. 6, No.7,
pp. 179-196, 19 figs., 3 maps. Issued December 23,
1961. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los
Angeles, California. Price 75 cents. This is Hawaii
Agricultural Experiment Station, Technical Paper 454
and is nicely printed by offset.
SUPPLEMENTTO THE ANNOTATED,SU.BJEcr-HEADINGBIBLIOGRAPHYOF TERMITES 1955 TO 1960, by Thomas ~.
Snyder published by the Smithsonian Institution December 29, 1961, as Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections Vol. 143, No.3, pp. i-iii
1-137. (Publication
4463) Price, $1.50.
THE DESERT. Third volume in the Life Nature Library
series, by A. Starker Leopole and the Editors of Life.
196 pages, 64 in full-color. Published by Time Inc.,
$3.95. Order from the Life Book Dept., 540 North
Michigan Ave., Chicago 11, Illinois. Previously published: The Sea and The Forest.
OFFICIAL FDA TOLERANCES.Special issue of the N.A.C.
News and Pesticide Review Listing complete through
December 31, 1961. February 1962. 10 cents per copy,
minimum order $1.00. Denis Haley, Editor, NACA,
1145 19th Street N. W., Washington 6, D. C.
ANIMAL SOCIETIES,FROMSLIME MOLDSTOMAN, by R. E.
Snodgrass.
This paper by Entomological Society of America Honorary Member Snodgrass appeared in the Smithsonian
Report for 1960, pages 425-455. The wisdom and philosophy of this short paper are apropos of our civilization.
A GLOSSARYOF SOME FOREIGNLANGUAGETERMS IN ENTOMOLOGY,
by Ruth O. Ericson. Agricultural
Handbook No. 218, U. S. Department of Agriculture.
1961.
Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D.
25 cents.
c..
This 59 page booklet will be of real value to entomologists and others interested in non-English entomological
publications.
A GLOSSARYOF INSEcr TOXICOLOGY,by Laurence L.
Lewallen. Edwards Brothers, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan. First Edition 1962. $1.25.
+
This lithographed booklet of 29 pages will be found
very useful not only by insect toxicologists but by other
entomologists and economic zoologists. Over 300 technical terms are included and it is most convenient to have
these compiled under one cover.
How TOCONTROLPLANT DISEASESIN HOME ANDGARDEN.
By Malcolm C. Shurtleff. Artwork by Roger D. Albertson. Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa.
520 pp., 178 ilIus. February, 1962. $4.95.
INSECTICIDERECOMMENDATIONS
OF THE ENTOMOLOGY
RESEARCHDIVISIONFORTHE CONTROLOF INSEcrS ATTACKING CROPSANDLIVESTOCKFOR1962. Agriculture Handbook No. 120. Agricultural
Research Service and
Federal Extension Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 152 pp. Revised March 1962. For sale by the
Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. Price 70 cents.
92