Understanding Public Concerns about Pesticides: An Empirical Examination

Whether real or imagined, public perceptions of the risk posed by pesticides and other agrichemicals used in food production can translate into very real effects in the marketplace. Perhaps the most dramatic example of how seriously public perceptions of agrichemical risks can affect the economic well-being of farmers and agribusinesses is the recent Alar controversy. The national attention and consequent drop in demand for apples and apple products resulting from publicity given to the Natural Resources Defense Council's report on the potential carcinogenic effects of Alar-treated apples cost the apply industry an estimated $100 million in Washington State alone (Yates 1989). Within days of the airing of the 60 Minutes program on Alar, the Washington State Apple Commission voted unanimously to transfer $1.7 million into a crisis management campaign as a counterattack to stem the tide of "anti-apple" sentiment resulting from the incident (Kelley and Yates 1989). Even though the Director of Washington's Department of Agriculture claimed that the controversy was being fueled by emotions rather than facts, the economic consequences were nonetheless devastating to the state's apple industry. As a result of the controversy, the use of Alar by the apple industry was effectively terminated (for an update on the Alar controversy see Marshall 1991). Were consumers justified in their reaction to the Alar report? Are pesticides and other agricultural chemicals a serious threat to human health and to the environment? The answers to these questions, as one might expect, vary considerably depending on the source. Some argue that the risks posed by synthetic agricultural chemicals are minor compared to the risks from naturally occurring chemicals. They contend that many naturally occurring chemicals in foods pose a more serious human health threat than do synthetic chemicals (see, e.g., Ames and Gold 1990; CAST 1987). Others contend that the food system is increasingly adulterated with potent chemicals and carcinogens that pose a serious threat to human health as well as to wildlife and the environment (see, e.g., Rodale 1981; Steinman 1990). In between these relatively extreme views is a wide continuum of opinion on the risk posed by pesticides to humans and the environment. Blair (1989) provides a good review of the controversy, covering the uncertainties involved and how they have translated into confusion and a diversity of opinions about the risks and benefits of agrichemical use. Despite continuing disagreements over the degree of risk posed by pesticides and other agrichemicals, it appears that people have become increasingly concerned about pesticide and other agrichemical use over the past 20 years (Sachs, Blair, and Richter 1987). This increase in concern corresponds to the emergence of a more general societal concern with environmental quality and technological threats to that quality, the emergence of a growing health consciousness among the public, and growing distrust of government regulations aimed at protecting both the environment and human health (see, e.g., Dunlap 1991; Dunlap and Scarce 1991). As a result of these interacting trends, there seems to have been an increase in the degree to which modern life is viewed as "risky," although the authors know of no longitudinal data specifically documenting this trend. However, when asked the following question, "Thinking about the actual amount of risk facing our society, would you say that people are subject to more risk today than they were 20 years ago, less risk today, or about the same risk today as 20 years ago?" a 1979-1980 national survey found that 78 percent of the public believed that life is more risky today than it was 20 years ago (Marsh and McLennan 1980). Especially noteworthy is the fact that 56 percent of those who said life is more risky subsequently indicated that they felt that the "food supply" was one of the sources of increased risk compared to 20 years ago. …