Computer-Assisted Evaluation of the Economic Impact of Cancellation of Pesticide Registrations. J. E. Bailey, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27695. H. D. Tilmon, Stephen J. Toth, Jr., and P. M. Phipps. Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Delaware, Newark 19717; Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27695; and Department of Plant Pathology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Tidewater Research Center, Suffolk, VA 23427. Plant Dis. 75:1077-1080. Accepted for publication 30 May 1991. Copyright 1991 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-75-1077.

Risk/benefit analyses, used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the special review process, are central to decisions regarding continued use or cancellation of certain or all uses of pesticides under review. Because the benefit of a pesticide is, in part, a function of available alternatives to its use, information should be collected on the whole spectrum of plant protection chemicals for each crop-pest combination. A method of analyzing the prospective monetary and agronomic impact of losing selected crop protection chemicals indicated that the removal of carbofuran alone from the market would not have adverse effects on peanut production in North Carolina, as the use of available alternatives would result in small net gains in yield and revenue. However, carbofuran became much more beneficial when alternative nematicides were deleted first. We concluded that the EPA must be visionary when selecting pesticides for special review because the benefit/risk ratio increases as alternatives are eliminated.