Pest Control

PEST CONTROL
Organisms considered harmful to humans or their interests With the discovery of DDT, 2,4-D, and BHC, researchers
are called pests. They include plants or animals that carry began to develop other synthetic organic pesticides,
disease, cause disease, or destroy crops or structures. The especially growth regulators, chemosterilants, pyrethroids,
definition of a pest is subjective. An ecologist would not and organophosphate chemicals. This research expanded in
necessarily consider a leaf-eating caterpillar on a corn plant order to develop other, nonchemical, methods of pest control
a pest, but a farmer might. The term pest may refer to after the harmful persistence of pesticides in the environment
insects, viruses, and bacteria that carry or cause disease. It was recognized. It was discovered in the 1950s that DDT
may also refer to organisms that destroy crops or man-made and its related compounds are not easily broken down in the
structures. Plants, such as weeds or fungi, and vertebrates, environment. DDT’s high stability leads to its accumulation in
such as rats, mice, and birds, are sometimes called pests insects that constitute the diet of other animals. These high
when they destroy crops or stored foods. levels of DDT have toxic effects on animals, especially
certain birds and fishes. Scientists also found that many
The elimination of pests or the inhibition of their reproduction, species of insects rapidly develop populations that are
development, or migration is known as pest control. The resistant to the pesticide.
control of pests has a great influence on the world economy.
Even with current pest-control measures, agricultural pests By the 1960s, the value of DDT as an insecticide had
are responsible for the annual destruction of millions of acres decreased, and in the 1970s severe restrictions were
of crops worldwide. In Southeast Asia, rodents have been imposed on its use. In the United States, the Federal
known to destroy as much as 50 percent of a rice crop Environmental Pesticide Control Act of 1972 and the Federal
before it is harvested. In the United States, over 500 million Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act passed in 1972
dollars are lost annually to insect and rodent infestation of required pesticide manufacturers to conduct scientific tests
stored foods and grains. on the biological activity, defectiveness, persistence, and
toxicity of any new pesticide before the chemical could be
Some insects are considered pests because they are wood- marketed. In the late 1980s, the average cost to develop and
eaters. They are a threat to wooden structures—houses and register a pesticide product was 10 million dollars. In the
other buildings, trees, and fences. Several species of ants, 1960s and 1970s, public objections were raised over the
bees, and beetles can also damage wooden structures. indiscriminate use of pesticides. The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) was created in 1970 to ascertain
In the field of agriculture, pest control is used to protect farm
past damage and possible future damage that could occur to
crops and forests that are harvested for their wood. Pest
the environment as the result of widespread pesticide use,
control has also contributed to the management of many
and to set up programs to combat environmental problems.
health-threatening diseases, including plague, encephalitis,
yellow fever, malaria, and typhus. An alternative concept of integrated pest management was
adopted for many agricultural pests. This approach involves
CHEMICAL CONTROL
non-chemical pest-control methods, including crop exclusion,
The most common method of pest control is the use of crop rotation, sanitation, and biological control. These
pesticides—chemicals that either kill pests or inhibit their methods augment other pest control programs designed to
development. Pesticides are often classified according to the minimize pesticide usage.
pest they are intended to control. For example, insecticides
are used to control insects; herbicides to control plants;
fungicides, fungi; rodenticides, rodents; avicides, birds; and
bactericides to control bacteria. Pesticides also include
chemosterilants and growth regulators, which are used to
interfere with the normal reproduction or development of the
pest.
Chemical control of pests probably began with poisonous

plant compounds. In the 18th and 19th centuries, farmers
ground up certain plants that were toxic to insects or rodents
—plants such as chrysanthemums or tobacco. The plant
“soup” was then applied directly to either the crops or the
pests. Chemists later discovered that they could extract the
toxic compounds from these poisonous plants and apply the
compounds as liquid sprays. Such chemicals as nicotine,
petroleum, coal tar, creosote, turpentine, and pyrethrum
were eventually extracted for use as sprays. Organic
compounds such as these were eventually replaced by more
effective inorganic chemicals, including arsenic, lime, sulfur,
strychnine, and cyanide.
With the advent of synthetic organic compounds during

World War II, a dramatic change occurred in pest control.
The discovery of the insecticidal properties of the synthetic
compounds DDT—which was widely used against disease-
spreading insects—during the war and BHC made the notion
of pest-free crops realistic. The development of another
synthetic organic compound, the selective herbicide 2,4-D
led to the development of other selective herbicides.

Pest Control

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PEST CONTROL

Chemical control of pests probably began with poisonous

With the advent of synthetic organic compounds during

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