Insecticides ranked by use on the greatest number of U.S. cotton acres in 1990 were: aldicarb, dicrotophos, methyl parathion, acephate, azinphosmethyl, thiodicarb, dimethoate, profenofos, cyhalothrin and cypermethrin.

With alternatives available, insecticides ranked by the impact of their loss on yield were: aidicarb, acephate, methamidophos, dicrotophos, dimethoate, methyl parathion, azinphosmethyl, Bacillus thuringiensis, methidathion and bifenthrin.

The loss of any class of insecticides without loss of products from other classes would affect U.S. cotton yields as follows: biological insecticides, 6 million pounds of lint lost; carbamates, 277 million pounds of lint lost; organophosphates, 548 million pounds of lint lost; and pyrethroids, 782 million pounds of lint lost.

Loss of all insecticides would reduce the U.S. crop by 1.9 billion pounds.

The economic implications of the loss of the more important insecticides and each class of chemicals is provided.