根据国际棉花咨询委员会 (ICAC) 的数据，全球棉花作物保护化学品的年销售额从 1999 年的 $26 亿增加到 2009 年的 $3 亿。
该组织在一份报告中表示，作物集约化在很大程度上取得了成功，部分原因是农药和作物投入物的使用。
The repercussions have been mostly positive, allowing farmers to reap more on existing farmland, thereby generating better income and taking steps to lift them out of a subsistence treadmill. However, some pesticides the World Health Organization (WHO) identified as harmful to the environment and humans should be reevaluated, largely in developing economies where responsible use programs are not well articulated, according to ICAC’s Expert Panel on Social, Environmental and Economic Performance of Cotton Production (SEEP).
此外，委员会提倡更有效地甚至消除在棉花上使用杀虫剂，以减少对农民、家庭和棉花行业人员的健康影响的风险。
The use of active ingredients that could cause environmental harm was also addressed. Countries that have pesticides in their supply chain that cause the “highest contribution to the environmental toxicity load” should minimize use in order to reduce damage to aquatic organisms and bees, said SEEP.
最后，政府应鼓励收集与农药使用相关的可靠、优质的作物数据。
“Accurate data are indispensable for the follow-‐up of risk assessment studies, although schemes of data collection might vary according to country conditions,” SEEP said.
ICAC 和 CropLife International 等组织在世界各地开展项目，倡导负责任的使用项目、容器回收、害虫综合治理和其他促进经济、农艺和环境可持续性的农业举措。
资料来源：廉政公署