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Improving health and environment by identifying
and reducing pesticide risks in agriculture.

How Can the Pesticide Risk Tool Help You Assess
Pesticide Risk?

Why Do We Need Risk Assessment Tools?

Pesticide products vary in level of risk.

  1. Danger, Warning, Caution signal words; acute mammalian toxicity
  2. US EPA Reduced Risk Initiative

Pesticide use sites vary in degrees of vulnerability.

  1. Proximity to surface water and other sensitive sites
  2. Soil and weather characteristics that affect pesticide movement

Pesticide application methods entail varying degrees of risk.

  1. Tree-trunk application vs. air-blast sprayer
  2. Foliar application vs. soil incorporation

PRT's Multiple Uses

Metrics

  1. Measure risk over time and track improvement
  2. Compare pesticide risk within commodities and across varieties
  3. Measure the reduction in risks caused by:
    1. A reduction in the pesticide application rate
    2. Switching to lower-risk pesticide products
    3. Changing the timing and/or method of application

Informed Decision-Making

  1. Run “what-if” and planning scenarios, use to develop a pest management plan
  2. Evaluate risks by supplier, commodity and region
  3. Product comparison:
    1. Assess relative risks of different products
    2. Compare estimated risk to label hazards

History of Risk Assessment Tools

  1. Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ)
    1. Developed by J. Kovach, C. Petzoldt, J. Degni and J. Tette
    2. Estimates risk to farm workers, consumers and terrestrial organisms
    3. Online user interface - runs by pesticide active ingredients
  2. Windows Pesticide Screening Tool (Win-PST)
    1. Developed by the USDA NRCS
    2. Estimates potential for offsite pesticide movement and long-term toxicity to humans and fish
    3. Downloadable application runs by pesticide products or active ingredients
  3. Pesticide Environmental Assessment System (PEAS)
    1. Developed by C. Benbrook
    2. Estimates risk to workers, consumers, birds, aquatic organisms, and honeybees
    3. Operated by BCS Ecologic
  4. Pesticide Risk Management Profiling Tool (PRoMPT)
    1. Developed by Unilever Colworth
    2. Estimates risk to ground water, terrestrial ecosystems, aquatic ecosystems and operators
    3. Online application, runs by pesticide active ingredients

How is the Pesticide Risk Tool Different?

  1. Developed by diverse project team:
    1. IPM Institute of North America and project partners Oregon State University, Environment Canada, BCS Ecologic, Pesticide Research Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council
  2. Estimates risk to workers, birds, earthworms, small mammals, and aquatic ecosystems:
    1. The Pesticide Risk Tool offers state-of-the-art pesticide risk analysis, using pesticide application rates and methods to account for potential exposure to non-target organisms. Our indices cover a broad range of resource concerns and are validated with field data where possible.
  3. Able to run by US EPA registered pesticide products:
    1. Our database of pesticide products is comprehensive and up-to-date, containing nearly all US products actively registered for agricultural use.
  4. The Pesticide Risk Tool is online and user-friendly:
    1. The Pesticide Risk Tool can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection. Store information about your site and pesticide applications. Any data stored by the Pesticide Risk Tool are secure and confidential.

Keep reading to find out how the Pesticide Risk Tool can work for you!

PRT Risk Definition

Scores are the probability of an adverse effect

Accounts for chemical hazards and likeliness of exposure

Covers full suite of risks, including environmental, human bystander, consumer dietary, and pollinator

Pesticide Risk Tool - Risk Summary

Getting Started: Payment or Free Trial

After logging in, if you are a first-time user or an existing user with an expired payment, you will be redirected to our payments page. If you just want to try the Pesticide Risk Tool, we recommend starting with the 10-day free trial, otherwise you will need to first make a payment. If you're curious why we're asking users to pay for the Pesticide Risk Tool, please read this.

Select and Describe Sites & Management Units

If you are a first-time user, you'll need to first add a site by clicking the "Add a Site" button, select it then add a management unit for that site.

Select a Site

Select a Management Unit

Create a Pesticide Application Scenario

A pesticide application scenario consists of one or more pesticide applications on a management unit. A scenario can be historical, such as 2015 Spray Records, or hypothetical, such as the products and use patterns you are considering.

Select a Product and Application Method

Enter application rate, date and area treated

Data Import

Optionally, you may also import electronic spray records. Note that this feature is not available for free-trial users.

Select applications for risk summary

Select one or more applications and choose your risk summary display preference.


Click the “Get Risk” button to generate a risk summary.

View Risk Summary

The Pesticide Risk Tool can display a risk summary by index (left) or by product (right).

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