According to the U.S. EPA, biopesticides are those pesticides which are derived from natural materials such as animals, plants, bacteria, and certain minerals. Most biopesticides fall into three major classes:
1) Microbial pesticides which consist of a microorganism (e.g., a bacterium, fungus, virus or protozoan) as the active ingredient.
2) Pesticide substances that plants produce from genetic material that has been added to the plant through genetic engineering. For example, scientists can take the gene for the Bt pesticidal protein, and introduce the gene into a plant's own genetic material.
3) Naturally occurring substances that control pests by non-toxic mechanisms. Examples include sex pheromones that interfere with mating, as well as various scented plant extracts that attract insect pests to traps.
In the U.S. biopesticide is an official classification approved by a special division of the EPA (the Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division). Since biopesticides tend to pose fewer risks than conventional pesticides, EPA generally requires much less data (and time) to register a biopesticide than to register a conventional pesticide.
