ABSTRACT
Global concern with the health and environmental impacts of synthetic pesticides, from both consumers and government agencies, is being translated into political action in the form of heightened restrictions and limitations on the use of these products, especially in the production of food crops. For example, the Food Quality Protection Act (enacted in 1996 in the USA), will severely restrict the use of certain organophosphate, carbamate and pyrethroid insecticides. This type of action, combined with a degree of relaxation in the regulatory requirements for “reduced-risk” pesticides, creates a window of opportunity for the introduction of alternative pesticides, provided their relative safety to humans can be established based on laboratory animal models. Among potential reduced-risk pesticides are botanical insecticides and antifeedants, i.e. products based on plant extracts, or purified substances of plant origin.
