ABSTRACT
At the present time there are few empirical studies that deal with the costs and benefits of pesticide use and environmental damage (Williams, 1990; Ruttan, 1994; Zilberman and Marra, 1993; Midmore and Lamkin, 1994; Oskam, 1994; Carlson, 1996). One reason is that the economic approach has not been adopted in the fields of human toxicology and ecotoxicology. Another lies in the number of unsolved methodological problems that stand in the way of widespread application of cost-benefit analysis. This is particularly apparent in political discussions regarding government restrictions on pesticide use and environmental limits; there is an increasing need for scientific evaluative criteria if statutory controls are to be legitimized. Economic investigations of environmental problems show that the cause of ecological damage is frequently to be found in the lack of compensation for damage. The problem is that damage compensation is generally possible only when the party causing the environmental damage, the damaged parties and the environmental damage can be identified. With regard to pesticides, these conditions are frequently not met. An approach to solving this problem is provided in this chapter.
