Biologically Based Technologies for Pest Control Page: 47
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Chapter 3 The Technologies 47
Chloronicotinyls (synthetic nicotines) are one of the newest classes of insecticides. The first of these,
imidacloprid, was marketed by the Miles Corporation in 1994. The chemical has several useful qualities. It
diffuses throughout a plant after being applied to the roots and can persist in woody tissues for weeks or
years. Many plant-feeding insects are susceptible. Perhaps most important, imidacloprid is thought to be
relatively nontoxic to humans. Finally, it moves slowly through soils-enhancing its insecticidal impact
and diminishing the risk of groundwater contamination.
The effect of imidacloprid and related chemicals is likely to be a reduction in use of BBTs. This effect
has already been seen in the poinsettia industry, where several greenhouses being set up for biological
control of whiteflies in 1994 opted instead to use potting mix treatments of imidacloprid. If experience is
any guide, at least one important greenhouse pest-the silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia argentifolii) --is likely
to develop resistance to imidacloprid within a few seasons, This situation will again stimulate interest in
BBTs.
SOURCES: W. Cranshaw, Department of Entomology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, "Biologically Based Technolo-
gies for Pest Control: Urban and Suburban Environments, " unpublished contractor report prepared for the Office of Technology
Assessment, U.S. Congress, Washington DC, 1994; R. Van Driesche et al., Department of Entomology, University of Massachu-
setts, Amherst, MA, letter to the Office of Technology Assessment, US. Congress, Washington D. C., July 1995.Microbial pesticides based on Bt are by far the
most commonly used in agriculture. They are
frequently the method of choice when a pest
develops resistance to chemical control methods
(41 1). The major uses are for pests of vegetable
crops, with recent increases in use on potatoes,
cotton, and corn following the discovery of new
Bt strains and development of new delivery
methods (411). Increases on cotton relate, in part,
to the tobacco budworm's development of resis-
tance to pyrethroids (41 1). Some 1PM programs
integrating Bt show economic returns equivalent
to those of conventional pest control programs
because pesticide costs decline in the Bt pro-
grams (41 1).
Until recently, Bt-based products were the
only microbial pesticides available for use
against arthropod pests. The fungus Beauvaria
bassiana has now been formulated for use
against a variety of pests, including grasshop-
pers, Mormon crickets (Anabrus simplex),
locusts, whiteflies, aphids, thrips, mealybugs,
leafhoppers, psyllids, and mites. Two products
by Troy Biosciences based on this fungus, Natu-
ralis-O and Naturalis-T, have recently come on
the market. Two other products, Mycotrol-GMMicrobial pesticides based on the bacterium Bacillus thurin-
giensis, or Bt, are the most common ones in use today.
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
and Mycotrol-WP, have just been registered by
the EPA and are expected to be available soon.
Virus-based products have not been available
in the United States for control of agricultural
pests (with the temporary exception of Elcar; see
box 3-1). One virus product, Sped-X from Bio-
sys, just came on the market for use against the
beet armyworm. NPV viruses that affect the cel-
ery looper and codling moth were registered with
EPA this year. Virus-based pesticides are now
used against vegetable, fruit, and cotton pests in
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United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment. Biologically Based Technologies for Pest Control, report, September 1995; [Washington D.C.]. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc39770/m1/53/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.