Tremendous benefits have been derived from the use of pesticides in forestry, public health and the domestic sphere – and, of course, in agriculture, a sector upon which the Indian economy is largely dependent. There are various secondary benefits identified, ranging from fitter people to conserved biodiversity. For example the higher cabbage yield might bring additional revenue that could be put towards children's education or medical care, leading to a healthier, better educated population. It follows that for secondary benefits it is therefore more difficult to establish cause and effect, but nevertheless they can be powerful justifications for pesticide use. They may be subtle, less intuitively obvious, or of longer term. The secondary benefits are the less immediate or less obvious benefits that result from the primary benefits. The three main effects result in 26 primary benefits ranging from protection of recreational turf to saved human lives. For example the effect of killing caterpillars feeding on the crop brings the primary benefit of higher yields and better quality of cabbage.

The primary benefits are the consequences of the pesticides' effects – the direct gains expected from their use. The rampant use of these chemicals, under the adage, “if little is good, a lot more will be better” has played havoc with human and other life forms.

Unfortunately, this is not the case, so the controversy of use and abuse of pesticides has surfaced. Ideally a pesticide must be lethal to the targeted pests, but not to non-target species, including man.

The introduction of other synthetic insecticides – organophosphate (OP) insecticides in the 1960s, carbamates in 1970s and pyrethroids in 1980s and the introduction of herbicides and fungicides in the 1970s–1980s contributed greatly to pest control and agricultural output. Among these, organochlorine (OC) insecticides, used successfully in controlling a number of diseases, such as malaria and typhus, were banned or restricted after the 1960s in most of the technologically advanced countries. The term pesticide covers a wide range of compounds including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, rodenticides, molluscicides, nematicides, plant growth regulators and others.

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