Table 1.

Comparison of aspects related to the development and application of chemical and biological control. (Updated to 2004; adapted from van Lenteren (1997a,b).)

	chemical control	biological control
number of ‘ingredients’ tested	>3.5 million	3000
success ratio	1 : 200 000	1 : 20
developmental costs	180 million US$	2 million US$
developmental time	10 years	10 years
benefit per unit of money invested	2.5–5	30
risk of resistance	large	nil/small
specificity	low	high
harmful side effects	many	nil/few