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Pesticide Bureau
Toxicology

Individuals everywhere depend upon some type pesticide in order to improve the quality of their lives. In the U.S. and around the world pest control practices continue to evolve in agriculture as research and technology influence our approach to pest control and expand our understanding of pest behavior. One can view this evolution from the abundant and affordable supply of fresh fruits and vegetables, produced by fewer individuals and made available to an ever growing population. Pesticides are used in great quantities in order to improve sanitation. The use of disinfectants in potable water supplies and hospitals saves millions of lives every year from the many life threatening diseases transmitted by bacteria and other microorganisms.

The wide scale use of pesticides in agriculture, industry, and in the home and garden mandates that we also evolve as better environmental and public health stewards. This evolution has led to policies and regulations enforced by government agencies that are implemented to protect public health and minimize impacts on the environment.

Providing informational assistance, to the public, industry, non-government groups, and other government agencies, is a role that we take seriously at the Massachusetts Pesticide Bureau. Although limited staff resources prevent us from being a clearing house of available data, we welcome your calls and questions related to pesticides and their use. Informational kits and brochures providing assistance and describing Pesticide Bureau programs are available from our publications page or upon request.

Information related to pesticides and their properties can be found in various forms. Traditionally such information was only available through studies, reviews, publications, and fact sheets. Such resources were published or compiled by universities, government agencies, professional societies, and other non-governmental groups and available only in hard copy format. Today the Internet allows individuals to obtain access and use much of this information with very little effort. In fact so much information is currently available that it can be quite overwhelming.