Note: While the content of this site is accessible to any browser or internet device, this site was designed for a web standards compliant browser such as: Mozilla, Microsoft Internet Explorer (Windows version 6+, Netscape 7, Safari , Konqueror, and Galeon.
If your web browser is not web standards compliant then this site won't appear as designed.

Modified:
May 17, 2004
[ERAP-03-002]
Pesticides, IPM, & Risk Indicators

Pesticide Risk Indicator Resources

Dr. Lois Levitan, Environmental Risk Analysis Program, Cornell University

This factsheet describes publications/webpages/email listservs that review, compare or discuss "Pesticide Risk Indicators" and other "Risk Ranking Tools" that could be applied to pesticides.

Resource Abstract and Other Information
AgImpact Internet Discussion Group
Moderated by John Vickery, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), Minneapolis, Minnesota.

To subscribe, send e-mail to listproc@mtn.org - leave subject line blank. In the body of the message write "subscribe ag-impact [your name]" 		Intended as an international forum for discussing issues, problems and progress in developing methods for assessing environmental impacts of agriculture. Participants are researchers and practitioners working to develop environmental risk/impact assessment systems for agriculture, or involved with the application of these assessment tools. Inaugurated 1996 by Dr. Lois Levitan, Cornell University.
Assessing the Relative Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Pesticides: the Quest for a Holistic Method. 1995. Lois Levitan, Ian Merwin, Joe Kovach. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 55: 153-168. Reviews a number of approaches that have been proposed by research, planning and regulatory agencies for assessing pesticide impacts. Major issues and challenges in developing assessment models include how to incorporate and synthesize a broad range of environmental parameters in creating an integrated assessment; how to evaluate, integrate and present economic and environmental information within one assessment framework; and how to strike a balance between the advantages of the ease of use of simpler systems with the information-richness of more complex systems that may be prohibitively difficult to use. Universal answers to these questions are not possible because of different specific objectives, methods and decision-making contexts of particular assessment systems.
Chemical Ranking and Scoring: Guidelines for Relative Assessments of Chemicals
Special publication of SETAC, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, from proceedings of the Pellston Workshop on Chemical Ranking and Scoring, 12-16 February 1995, Sandestin, Florida. SETAC Press 1997. M. B. Swanson and A. C. Socha, eds.

SETAC website: http://www.setac.org. 		Discusses framework, human health and ecological effects, measures of exposure and other chemical characteristics to consider.
ChemRank Internet Discussion Group
Initiated and moderated by Mary Swanson of the University of Tennessee Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies (CPCT).

To subscribe, send e-mail to " listserv@dome.ra.utk.edu" - leave subject line blank (or enter your name), and in the body of the message, type " subscribe ChemRank".		 Intended as a forum for discussing issues, methods, and innovations in relative assessments of chemicals (e.g., risk, impact, toxicity, screening tools). It is intended as an international forum for CRS practitioners and policy makers who use Chemical Ranking and Scoring.
Comparing Environmental Risk Indicators for Pesticides: Results of the European CAPER Project. July 1999. CLM-426-1999. Centre for Agriculture and Environment . Utrecht, Netherlands. 184pp. ISBN; 90-5634-106-5.

Order from: P.O. Box 10015. 3505 AA Utrecht, the Netherlands, or call: +31 (0) 302441301, or e-mail: clm@clm.nl.

CAPER was coordinated by the Centre for Agriculture and Environment (CLM), Netherlands: http://www.clm.nl. The report was previously on line at the CLM website, but in Feb 2001 was not accessible at this site. 		The CAPER Project (Concerted Action on Pesticide Environmental Risk Indicators) characterized and compared eight pesticide indicators developed in the European Union: Environmental Yardstick (EYP, Netherlands), Hasse Diagram (HD, Denmark), SYNOPS2 (Germany), Environmental Performance Indicator of Pesticides (p-EMA, United Kingdom), Pesticide Environmental Impact Indicator (Ipest, France), Environmental Potential Risk Indicator for Pesticides (EPRIP, Italy), System for Predicting the Environmental Impact of Pesticides (SyPEP, Belgium), and Pesticide Environmental Risk Indicator (PERI, Sweden). Report containing overview, comparison, and descriptions of the 8 indicators.

See also Table 2: EYP, Pesticide Leaching (Sorensen), SYNOPS, EcoRating (Lewis), Fuzzy Expert System.
Ecological Risk Analysis Tools And Application
Website developed by the Environmental Sciences and Life Sciences Divisions of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy http://www.hsrd.ornl.gov/ecorisk/ecorisk.html. 		Website contains information that can be used to conduct ecological screening and baseline risk assessments.
Environmental Impact Assessment: The Quest for a Holistic Picture. 1996. Susan Riha, Lois Levitan and John Hutson. Pages 40-58 in Proceedings of the Third National IPM Symposium/Workshop: Broadening Support for 21st Century IPM. February 27-March 1, 1996, Washington DC. (PDF) Review of methods, objectives and constraints for assessing the environmental impacts and risks of agriculture, with an emphasis on pesticides.
Evaluation of IPM Programs-Concepts and Methodologies
Report of the Pesticide Policy Project, 8, University of Hannover, Germany, with FAO. 61p. 1998. H. Waibel, G. Fleischer, P. E. Kenmore and G. Feder. H. Waibel and P Keller, Series eds. 		Contact by mail at: Prof. Dr. H. Waibel. Institut fur Gartenbauokonomie, Universitat Hannover, Herrenhauser Str. 2, 30419 Hannover, Germany or by e-mail: waibel@ifgb.uni-hannover.de, fleischer@ifgb.uni-hannover.de or peter.keller@gtz.de
Green Food Labels: Emerging Opportunities for Environmental Awareness and Market Development
http://www.pmac.net/lisalef.htm 		Report from Mothers and Others for a Livable Planet, NY, USA. 1996. 40p. L. Y. Lefferts ( llefferts@igc.apc.org) and M. J. Heinicke.
"How to" and "Why" : Assessing the Enviro-Social Impacts of Pesticides. 2000. Lois Levitan. Crop Protection 19:629-636.

http://www.elsevier.com/locate/cropro 		A typology is proposed to distinguish among three quite different types and applications for pesticide impact assessment tools (which are also known as "pesticide risk indicators"). The types are differentiated by their objectives, decision makers, factors or variables considered, arena of activity, scale and unit of analysis, handling of an economic dimension, format of results, and method or approach.
Integrated Pest Management Measurement Systems Workshop. Chicago, Illinois, June 12 and 13, 1998. CAE/SP98-1. 187pp. Esther Day, ed. American Farmland Trust, Center for Agriculture in the Environment.

http://www.aftresearch.org/researchresource/wp/sp98-1/index.htm 		Contains summaries of about a dozen indicator systems and summaries of the discussions at the workshop. Funding for the IPM Measurement System workshop was provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division and The World Wildlife Fund's Agriculture Pollution Prevention Program.
OECD Environmental Indicators for Agriculture. Vol. 2: Issues and Design 1999. The York Workshop, September 1999. 213 pages. OECD Code (51 1999 05 1P) ISBN 92-64-17041-3. Environmental Indicators for Agriculture Series.

Volume 1: Concepts and Framework, 1997
Volume 3: Methods and Results, to be published in 2000
Volume 4: to be published in 2001, will report work on the use of indicators in policy analysis.

Order from OECD Bookshop: http://www.oecd.org/bookshop/

SUMMARY: OECD countries are on the verge of agreeing on a set of agri-environmental indicators for policy use and analysis by governments and other stakeholders. These indicators will eventually provide a series of key benchmarks to monitor change.

This book examines two key aspects: (1) the identification of suitable indicators, the methodology to be used in their measurement and issues relating to interpretation. (2) How governments and other users would use indicators to assess policies and environmental performance.

Ten agri-environmental indicators are covered in this volume: soil quality, water quality, water use, land conservation, biodiversity, wildlife habitats, landscape, farm management, farm financial resources, and rural socio-cultural issues. Three others (nutrient use, pesticide use and greenhouse gases) were examined in the first volume of the series.

Information on OECD work on Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment: http://www.oecd.org/agr/policy/ag-env/index.htm, Kevin Parris (Kevin.Parris@oecd.org), Tel: (+ 33) 01 45 24 95 68 Fax: (+ 33) 01 44 30 61 02.

Overview of Pesticide Impact Assessment Systems (a.k.a. Pesticide Risk Indicators"). July 1997. Lois Levitan. 89 pages. (PDF)

Revised from Background Paper presented at the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Workshop on Pesticide Risk Indicators 21-23 April 1997, Copenhagen, Denmark. Earlier version published under the title Pesticides Ranking by Environmental Impact (Encyclopedia of Environmental Analysis and Remediation, Robert A. Meyers, ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1998. L. Levitan and J. Kovach. Pages 3514-3555.) 		Introduction and critical review of indexing and ranking methodology and detailed description of a number of pesticide risk indicator systems developed by mid-1997. A typology for distinguishing among assessment systems is suggested: (1) decision aids for farmers/growers and other land managers, (2) research and policy tools for use by governments, industry or academia, and (3) "ecolabeling" systems designed to influence consumer opinion and market behavior.
Pesticide Decision Tool Resource Center: Decision Tool for Integrated Pesticide Selection and Management

Contact: John Vickery (jvickery@iatp.org),
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
2105 First Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2505
Ph. 612-870-3430; FAX 612-870-4846
http://www.iatp.org/pesticide/.		 IATP is working to reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture and improve water quality through voluntary adoption of on-farm assessment and decision tools. Website provides introduction to the Nutrient Management Yardstick and the Pesticide Decision Tool (PDT) (see more under PDT in Table 2). Links to data and evaluations of pesticide non-target impacts.
Pesticide Use Optimisation: Review of Risk Indices. June 1998. UK Ministry of Agriculture. MAFF Publications (ref: PB3978), Admail 6000, London SW1A 2XX (tel 0645 556000).
Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange.
(accessed June 2002)

http://www.pprc.org/hubs/ click on Environmental Measurement

Provides background and overview of environmental measurement systems, steps to develop a measurement system appropriate for its intended use, and links to existing environmental measurement systems. Limited information on pesticide risk measurement systems.
Toxicology 157 (1-2) 12-Jan-2000. ISSN : 0300-483X
Special issue of Toxicology Journal on digital information and tools, with several articles on various sources of toxicity data.

http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/jnlnr/08056
 Articles include: TOXNET: An evolving web resource for toxicology and environmental health information (P. Wexler, pp 11 - 23); Toxicology information resources at the Environmental Protection Agency (L. Miller Poore, G. King, K. Stefanik, pp 25 - 49); Toxicology information from US government agencies (R.P. Brinkhuis, pp 51 - 65); Subnational sources of toxicology information: state, territorial, tribal, county, municipal, and community resources online (F.W. Stoss, pp 67 - 76); Professional Toxicology Societies: Web Based Resources (J.P. Kehrer, J. Mirsalis, pp 77 - 88); Toxicology and environmental digital resources from and for citizen groups (P. Montague, M.B. Pellerano, pp 89 - 110); Searching fee and non-fee toxicology information resources: an overview of selected databases (L.L. Wright, pp 111 - 119); Using internet search engines and library catalogs to locate toxicology information (L. Dassler Wukovitz, pp 141 - 152); Digital toxicology education tools: education, training, case studies, and tutorials (J.F. Sharpe, D.L. Eaton, C.B. Marcus, pp 153 - 164).

© 1999-2006 Cornell University Environmental Risk Analysis Program