Need for product development stressed
ATLANTA, Ga. As the world
population continues to explode,
U.S. agriculture stands at the
threshold of an era calling for
accelerated efforts to hasten the
advancement of agricultural
technology.
This is the optimistic outlook of
fered bv_ Kan Voepel, Vice
President and General Manager of
the Agricultural Chemicals
Division of Mobay Chemical
Corporation.
“Statisticians tell us that world
population growth in the next 50
years will create a demand for
more food and fiber than has
previously been produced during
the entire history of mankind,’’
said Voepel. “The FAO (Food and
Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations) has estimated that
just to feed the world by the year
2000 will require worldwide farm
yield increases of 60 percent per
acre, a 26 percent increase in
planted acres, and a 14 percent
improvement in intensified crop
sequences.
“As the world’s most efficient
producer of food and fiber, U.S.
agriculture stands to gain a
disproportionate share of this
dramatic increase in demand. But
in order to do so, our agricultural
industry must achieve renewed
support from the public and from
our government and its agencies.”
Development threatened
Voepel, who also serves as Vice
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Chairman for the National
Agricultural Chemicals
Association, pointed out that the
introduction of crop protection
chemicals has made a major
contribution to the current
productivity of American
agriculture. However, the future
development of even more ef
fective and environmentally ac
ceptable pesticide products is now
threatened by staggering in
vestments in research and
development, by ineffective
regulatory agencies, by myopic
environmental groups, and by
outdated patent laws.
“Today, a company such as ours
must synthesize and screen bet
ween 10,000 and 20,000 different
chemicals in order to identify one
marketable compound,” Voepel
explained. “Then, the company
must next invest an average of ten
years in development, testing and
probing before that product can
achieve registration for com
mercial use in this country. The
research costs alone for this un
dertaking amount to more than $3O
million, not considering additional
investments in manufacturing
facilities, marketing activities and
administration.”
Despite these hurdles, said
Voepel, the pesticide industry has
continued to make giant strides
forward in the development of
highly effective, environmentally
acceptable crop protection
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the introduction of first, second
and even third-generation
Pyrethroid insecticides, new
herbicides, and unique systemic
fungicides such as Mobay’s
Bayleton, all of which are applied
at remarkably low rates of only
ounces per acre.
“If the economic and political
climate allows, we expect to see
even more revolutionary crop
protection developments in the
decade ahead,” Voepel continued.
“The relatively new science of
bio-technology will ultimately open
the doors to an entirely new
definition of agriculture, with
staggering implications for
modifying the very composition of
a plant. Other far-ranging
research activities are taking
place in such areas as in
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biological research. Insect
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mone antagonists represent two
areas which may produce new and
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environmentally desirable in
secticides.”
Continued development of such
imaginative technology, Voepel
emphasized, hinges on two key
prerequisities. The first is a
continuing commitment from a
company to invest an average of
$3O million each year to develop
new products that cannot be
marketed for ten additional years.
The second is the assurance that
the considerable investment in
such research is protected.
“We in the pesticide industry
believe that the research data we
generate during the development
of a new product, and which we are
required to disclose in full to the
EPA in order to receive product
registration, is our intellectual
property,” he explained. “As such,
that date cannot and should not be
used by the EPA to support the
registrations of competitive
products, nor should it be made
available to competing companies.
During the years before a com
pany can actually begin marketing
authorized distributor for
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a new product, that data
represents the sum total of the
several years and tens of millions
of dollars invested in its
development.
“At present, unfortunately, the
EPA continues to disagree with
this industrry position. As a result,
several chemical companies are
now battling the EPA over this
issue in the courts.”
Voepel noted that the pesticide
industry’s greatest concern is the
misuse of such data. “Our ob
jective is not to hide such in
formation, since by law we are
committed to disclose all data to
the EPA, both good and bad.
Rather, we’re trying to preserve
our incentive to make these
massive investments in time and
money.
“Unfortunately, several public
issues have seriously impaired the
EPA’s credibility and image in the
recent past. If the agency’s
credibility remains impaired, and
if environmental groups continue
to insist on reviewing this in
dustry’s confidential data, I would
propose a scientific body of auditors,
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