Global pesticide use has soared by 80% since 1990, with the world market set to hit $130bn next year, according to a new Pesticide Atlas.
But pesticides are also responsible for an estimated 11,000 human fatalities and the poisoning of 385 million people every year, the report finds.
Their use has hit biodiversity, driving falls of around 30% in populations of field birds and grassland butterflies since 1990. Almost one in 10 of Europe’s bees are now threatened with extinction, due in no small part to the use of toxic chemical formulations in herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers.
Eden Research plc (LON:EDEN) is an AIM-quoted company focussed on sustainable biopesticides and plastic-free encapsulation technology for the use in global crop protection, animal health and consumer products industries.