Insect Pest Management and Environmental Risk

Insect pests and insect pest management tactics impose risks to the environment. Environmental risk assessment is a formalized paradigm for the objective evaluation of risk in which assumptions and uncertainties are clearly presented. Therefore, a better understanding of the environmental risks and especially the comparative risks posed by insect pests and management tactics will improve integrated pest management. Risk assessments for insect pest management tactics are much more common for pesticides and genetically engineered crops than for biological control, cultural control, and semiochemicals. The reasons for this discrepancy include evidence of deleterious effects and data availability for pesticides and genetically engineered crops, public perceptions of tactics, and politics. Regardless of the regulatory oversight and frequency of risk assessments, all tactics should be subject to the risk assessment paradigm to assist in societal decisions.