The World Wide We——A Global Information Resource for Crop Protection Chemistry
Pesticides have played a leading role, together with fertilizers and crop breeding, in continually increasing the world food supply and this trend will continue in order to meet increasing demand as the world population increases from 7 billion today to an expected 9 billion in 2051. However, because of their nature, pesticides must be used judiciously in order to avoid possible deleterious effects on human health and environment. In order to address these issues it is essential that accurate information on pesticides is made available in a clear, unbiased and authoritative manner. Over the years a large amount of information relating to pesticides has been generated, however, as this could only be found in many diverse sources, usually in a print only format, it was not easily available to regulators, research scientists or the general public. Although a niche market has developed to meet the need for appropriate information on pesticides, the products are relatively expensive, particularly for scientifically emerging countries, and can quickly become out of date. A large amount of this information, which includes pesticide properties, risk assessments, regulatory requirements, good laboratory practice, study protocols etc. , is, however, now available via the World Wide Web. The drawback is that this information is spread over many different web-sites and it is not always easy to find, since there is currently a lack of co-ordination to make this information readily available to those interested in it. Moreover, anybody can post information on the Internet with no check as to its accuracy. It is important, therefore, to ensure that any information found on the Internet comes from a reliable source and has a sound scientific basis.
John B. Unsworth
Independent Consultant, Chelmsford, UK
国际会议
北京
英文
5-6
2012-09-15（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）