The Confus ng World of Pest odes: A Primer

摘要

The term "pesticide" is rather broad-based, but according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a pesticide is an agent that is used to control any pest. We usually think of pests as insects or rodents, but pests can also be birds, unwanted plants (weeds), fungi or microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses. Likewise, we usually refer to pesticides to include insecticides or rodenticides, but they can also apply to herbicides, fungicides, microbicides and various other substances used to control pests. Under current United States law, a pesticide is also any substance or mixture of substances intended for use as an insect or plant growth regulator, insect mating disrupter or egg steri-lant, defoliant or desiccant.