IRAC-US was the first Country Group organized after the formation of IRAC International in 1984. It is set up as a task force within CropLife America which is classified as a not-for-profit organisation (i.e. a 501(c)6 organization termed a business league not engaged in any regular for-profit business).
The purpose of IRAC-US is two fold: first, to facilitate education and communication on insecticide resistance, and second, to promote the development of resistance management strategies to preserve the efficacy of crop protection and public health pest control products.
As IRAC-US has matured, the emphasis of the organization has shifted from its original focus on cotton to a wide range of other crops and now includes resistance in disease vectors and urban pests. It is now realized that in order to maintain the effectiveness of current products the frequency of resistance genes must be kept low. To do this all pest control methods must be incorporated into any resistance management program.
IRAC-US has also worked with commodity groups such as the National Cotton Council, Cotton Incorporated, the National Potato Growers Association, the EPA and others to improve our knowledge of resistance issues. These efforts have been accomplished by funding limited resistance research, giving presentations on resistance to crop associations, e.g., the NAICC (National Association of Crop Consultants), providing forums for the discussion of resistance issues, sponsoring of symposia, and conducting a few focused resistance-monitoring programs.
IRAC US, in cooperation with IRAC International, has worked closely with Michigan State University (MSU) and supported the development of the MSU Arthropod Pesticide Resistance Database (APRD). This is accessed via a website (www.pesticideresistance.org) as a public service, for use by resistance management practitioners around the world.
IRAC US continues to sponsor research focused on resistance issues in the region. For the past 4 years or so IRAC-US has sponsored research on the resistance of Heliothis zea to pyrethroids at Texas A&M University and recently agreed to sponsor a survey of resistance in Spodoptera frugiperda as part of a resistance management program in Puerto Rico.
