• Chemical crop protection products, or “pesticides”, help control insects, diseases, weeds, fungi, and other undesirable pests.
• Pesticides comprise a wide range of products for both professional and home applications including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, sanitizers, growth regulators, rodenticides, and soil fumigants.
• The use of chemical crop protection in all contexts is highly regulated.
• The regulatory framework of pesticides encompasses national, regional, and international legislation and conventions that help assure safety for users, consumers, and the environment.

Chemical crop protection products commonly referred to as pesticides or agrochemical products play a vital role in controlling the pests and diseases that threaten our food supply.

Food crops must compete with 30,000 species of weeds, 3,000 species of nematodes, and 10,000 species of plant-eating insects. We know that despite the use of modern crop protection products 20-40% of potential food production is still lost every year to pests. These losses can occur while the crop is growing in the field when it is in storage and in the home. In short, an adequate, reliable food supply cannot be guaranteed without the use of crop protection products.