Pesticides in California: their potential impacts on wildlife resources and their use in permitted cannabis cultivation

Abstract

The agricultural industry, including commercial cannabis cultivators, often relies on rodenticides and insecticides to help minimize damage from wildlife and insect pest species. Many of the most toxic pesticides are listed as California restricted materials, meaning they can only be purchased and used by certified applicators under a permit from a County Agricultural Commissioner. Despite the permit requirement and other restrictions, exposure of non-target wildlife to pesticides continues to occur throughout California. Non-target wildlife may be directly exposed through ingestion, inhalation, or dermal contact or secondarily exposed through ingestion of contaminated or poisoned prey. Exposure to pesticides can be lethal, or it can cause sublethal effects that impact species’ immunology, reproduction, thermoregulation, morphology, and behavior. To date, information pertaining to pesticides is spread among disparate resources. Our review paper aims to synthesize a subset of this information. We provide an overview of insecticides and rodenticides and explore the potential effects that these pesticides may have on non-target wildlife species. We then outline current regulations regarding the use of these pesticides in cannabis cultivation, one of the fastest growing agricultural commodities in California.

Keywords

• acute poisoning
• cannabis
• insecticide
• pesticide
• regulations
• rodenticide
• sublethal effects
• wildlife