Data Sources

The data sources used for the matrix are summarized here. Additional detail is provided in Colt J, Cyr MJ, Zahm SH, Tobias GS, Hartge P. 2006. Inferring past pesticide-exposures: a matrix of individual active ingredients in home and garden pesticides used in past decades. Environmental Health Perspectives (epub).

Reports prepared by Kline & Company, Inc. were the major information source. Since 1976, Kline has conducted proprietary analyses of product sales, market share, and active ingredient sales of home and garden pesticides and fertilizers for both the consumer and professional markets. All major pesticide manufacturers in the U.S. are regular or periodic purchasers of these reports. The data are typically used for market planning purposes in developing business strategies focused on the consumer and professional markets. The types of information presented in the reports vary, depending on the type of market (consumer versus professional), the pest type, and the year (data have become more detailed with time). Data may be provided on the number of acres treated nationwide with individual products, pounds of specific active ingredients purchased or used, dollar sales of products or active ingredients, prices per pound of product, dollar sales by company, and/or main products by company.

Two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) databases were used. The Pesticide Product Information System (PPIS) contains information on pesticide products that have been registered in the U.S. Included are registrant names and addresses, ingredients, toxicity category, product names, distributor brand names, site uses, pest uses, pesticidal type, formulation code, and registration status. A related resource is the Pesticide Product Label System (PPLS), a collection of pesticide label images. Another information source was the U.S. EPA National Home and Garden Pesticide Use Survey (the “U.S. EPA Survey”). This survey involved home interviews with over 2,000 households nationwide in 1990. Interviewers inventoried stored pesticide products, recorded the active ingredients on the label, and asked respondents to identify the pests on which the product had been used during the past year.

Several other sources were used to help identify active ingredients in specific products and to estimate application rates: Meister Publishing Company, C&P Press publications, Crop Data Management Systems, Inc. (2004), and Hagan et al. (1993).