Evaluation of generic and branded herbicides : technical report.

Details

• Creators:
  McFalls, Jett ; Yi, Young-Jae ; Li, Ming-Han ; Senseman, Scott ; Storey, Beverly
• Corporate Creators:
  Texas A&M Transportation Institute
• Corporate Contributors:
  Texas. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Technology Implementation Office ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Herbicides
  • Evaluation
  • Literature reviews
  • Benefit cost analysis
  • Surveys
  • Environmental impacts
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/TX-15/0-6733-1
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Texas
• Corporate Publisher:
  Texas A&M Transportation Institute
• Abstract:
  As with other generic brand products in the marketplace, generic herbicides often have a lower initial product cost than ; their brand-name counterparts. While the purchase price of herbicides is important to TxDOT, it is essential to look at ; more than just initial costs to determine whether generic or branded products is the best practice. One should consider ; safety, effectiveness, and application rates/procedures as well as product availability and equipment requirements. This ; project focused on three herbicides (Roundup PROMAX®, Escort® XP and Transline®) that TxDOT currently uses. ; The multi-disciplinary research team conducted a literature review, survey of practice, and cost/benefit analysis to ; determine whether generic herbicides meet equivalent performance, toxicology, environmental impact, and safety ; requirements as branded herbicides with significant cost-savings. This study found that generic products with the same ; or similar formulation often proved equivalent to branded products in human/wildlife effects, performance, and ; equipment requirements. However, the potential lack of quality control was identified as a concern because many of ; the generic herbicides were produced overseas. The uncertainties of inert ingredients also made assessments of risks ; and performance unclear. Meanwhile, the cost-saving benefit by using generic products was not proven, particularly ; for projects requiring a large amount of herbicide. The generic product may have a cheaper price but may not include ; the same amount and quality of active ingredient as the brand-name product. Therefore, to achieve an equivalent rate ; of active ingredient, more of the generic material may need to be used, thereby potentially eliminating whatever cost ; savings was realized at the initial purchase of the generic product. Other concerns identified with generic herbicides ; include the lack of availability, and lack of diverse discounts offered by branded herbicide manufacturers.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  Project 0-6733
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/28772/dot_28772_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.82 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:12ce8090cdd0a7ea2f10f4c005d5f993c7b74acb70199067cca96ba625c6534f