Globally, the sale of pesticides has become a 25 billion dollar market. Rationalizing a form of production that centers around living organisms is not easy. Insects become resistant to pesticides, forcing researchers to continually develop new chemical compounds. Greater public concern about the impact of pesticides on human health have further complicated matters. Researchers must develop compounds which are less persistent yet still effective.
Consequently money spend on research and testing continues to rise.
When a crop is sprayed with insecticide helpful insects such as ladybugs and spiders are killed along with the insect that is consuming the crop. With the eradication of natural predators, a crop becomes more susceptible to pests than before, and increasingly dependent on the application of insecticides. So far, more than 50 pesticides have been banned or restricted in the United States. When DDT was banned in 1972, animal populations had already suffered greatly from ingesting this toxic compound. The peregrine falcon nearly became extinct, in large part because DDT damaged their reproductive capabilities.