Not long ago, issues such as pesticide residues and excessive pesticide levels frequently made headlines, leaving consumers wary and even alarmed—so much so that they seemed to equate any agricultural product treated with pesticides with something “toxic.” In reality, pesticides are far less daunting than they’re often made out to be. “Just as people take medicine when they’re sick, plants need treatment when they fall ill—the principle is the same,” says Zheng Yongquan, deputy director of the Institute of Plant Protection at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He adds that, when used scientifically and responsibly, the potential adverse effects on human health are manageable—and that pesticides play a vital role in boosting agricultural productivity.
Scientific use offers numerous benefits.
At present, China is experiencing frequent outbreaks of plant pests and diseases. Pests such as leafhoppers and whiteflies are rampant, while devastating plant diseases—including rice black-streaked dwarf disease, rice stripe leaf blight, maize rough dwarf disease, and tomato yellow leaf curl virus—are spreading rapidly, posing a grave threat to agricultural production in the country. Zheng Yongquan argues that the judicious use of pesticides can help ensure stable grain yields. To keep “the Chinese people’s food security firmly in their own hands,” it is essential not only to improve cultivation practices and develop higher-yielding varieties but also to minimize losses per unit area.
The judicious use of pesticides can also effectively prevent agricultural products from being contaminated by mycotoxins. Meanwhile, during storage and transportation, if no preservative or shelf‑life‑extending treatments are applied, produce is highly susceptible to microbial contamination that leads to spoilage; consumers who ingest such products—contaminated with pathogens like Escherichia coli—may develop acute gastroenteritis and other illnesses. “Therefore,” Zheng Yongquan stated, “pesticides can reduce the production of mycotoxins and the contamination by foodborne pathogenic microorganisms by controlling the harmful effects of these microbes, thereby ensuring the safety and quality of agricultural products.”
From low toxicity to low risk
After years of development, pesticides have gone through four distinct stages: low‑efficiency, high‑toxicity; high‑efficiency, high‑toxicity; high‑efficiency, low‑toxicity; and finally, high‑efficiency, low‑toxicity, with minimal residue. Today, the pesticides used in agricultural production are no longer the conventional formulations of the past.
The difference lies in their chemical composition and structure; today, most are bio‑inspired pesticides with significantly reduced toxicity. Moreover, their modes of action have evolved: new formulations now target insect energy metabolism and biosynthetic pathways, resulting in relatively minor impacts on humans while delivering robust efficacy at lower application rates. Zheng Yongquan points out that even the same pesticide molecule can exhibit intermolecular interactions in space, giving rise to entirely distinct toxicological mechanisms and posing varying degrees of harm to non‑target organisms and the broader ecological environment. At present, chiral pesticides account for roughly 40% of all existing agrochemicals; therefore, it is crucial to identify, dissect, and mitigate the risks concealed within these molecular structures.
The “Action Plan for Achieving Zero Growth in Pesticide Use by 2020,” formulated by the Ministry of Agriculture, stipulates that “by 2020, a preliminary sustainable pest and disease management system that is resource‑efficient and environmentally friendly will be established; the level of scientifically sound pesticide application will be significantly improved; pesticide use per unit area of control will be kept below the average level of the past three years; and efforts will be made to achieve zero growth in the total volume of pesticide use.”
Urgently in need of industrial-scale deployment.
Jiang Hongyun, a researcher at the Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, explained that in the past, farmers relied on experience when applying pesticides, resulting in low precision. Now, 26 sets of precision pesticide‑selection test kits have been developed: farmers simply place captured field pests into the kit and, within one to three hours, assess the mortality rate to determine whether a particular pesticide is effective. Moreover, these kits enable real-time monitoring and adjustments to application strategies, boosting the accuracy of pesticide selection to over 80 percent.
While the technology exists, merely keeping it at the experimental stage is insufficient; the key lies in whether it can be scaled up for industrial application. Huang Qiliang, a researcher at the Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, stated that by screening highly effective, low‑risk active ingredients and adjuvants, they have investigated the interactions and synergistic effects among formulation components, and evaluated the bioactivity and safety of various formulations. As a result, they have developed a new type of dispersible oil‑in‑water suspension concentrate that uses plant oils and other low‑risk solvents, enabling it to completely replace the harmful benzene‑based solvents traditionally used in emulsifiable concentrates.
