Many scientists are concerned that changes to the National Pesticide Use Maps database will make it far less useful.
Last year, Alan Kolok, an ecotoxicologist at the University of Idaho, published a study that found the incidence of cancer in counties across 11 western U.S. states was correlated with the use of farm chemicals called fumigants, which kill soil pests. The fine-grained analysis was feasible, he says, because a U.S. government database made timely, county-level statistics on pesticide use publicly available.
The USGS data have played a role in more than 500 peer-reviewed studies, the letter notes, including highly cited works on the impact of pesticides on public health, water quality, and ecosystems. Instead of reducing the database’s scope and frequency, the critics say USGS should be expanding it in order better track the estimated 540 million kilograms of pesticides used annually in the United States.
In recent years, however, USGS has narrowed its approach. The most recent data release, which covered 2018 and 2019, included only 72 compounds that USGS judged to be especially important because of their widespread use and toxicity. In a statement, the agency said the shorter list aligns the survey with “the list of pesticides that USGS routinely collects data on for water quality purposes.”
Others say the agency should be tracking more pesticides, not fewer. “There are literally hundreds of active ingredients and thousands of products that are applied on croplands,” notes Christy
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