The Pesticide Price Tag
It is impossible to put an exact dollar value on a human life lost or wildlife destroyed because of pesticide poisoning. But for the past several years David Pimentel, a Cornell University entomologist, has taken on the monumental task of calculating the indirect, or hidden costs of pesticide use, costs that don’t get taken into account in the usual cost/benefit analyses conducted by industry or government regulators. In 1992, Pimentel estimated that the environmental and social costs from pesticides in the U.S. total more than $8 billion a year: http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Pesticide-Price-Tag.htm