Subject: HISTORY OF PEST MANAGEMENT
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 09:11:13 -0400
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State
of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might like to read the following:
The History of Pest Management
This resource lists key events in the history of pest management. An historical perspective is important for a complete understanding of any subject and pest management is no exception. There are always lessons to be learned from history although too often these pass unnoticed and unheeded because they are rarely taught as part of the subject of pest management in our schools and colleges. The brief outline of the key events in the history of pest management that are presented here provide a framework on which to hang other knowledge, facts and figures.
- Compiled by Dr David Dent [Sections in red added
by Stephen Tvedten]
8000 BC
Beginnings of agriculture
4700 BC
Silkworm culture in China
2500 BC
First records of insecticides eg the Sumerians were using sulphur
compounds to control insects and mites
1500 BC
First descriptions of cultural controls especially manipulation of
planting dates
1200 BC
Botanical insecticides were being used for seed treatments and as
fungicides in China. The Chinese were also using mercury and arsenical
compounds to control body lice
950 BC
First descriptions of burning as a cultural control method
200 BC
The Roman, Cato the Censor advocated oil sprays for pest control
13 BC
First rat-proof grannary was built by the Roman architech Marcus Pollio
300 AD
First record of the use of biological controls (predatory ants) in
citrus orchards in China. Colonies of the predatory ants (Oecophylla
smaragdina) were set up in citrus groves with bamboo bridges to move between
trees to control caterpillar and beetle pests
400 AD
Ko Hung an alchemist recommended a root application of white arsenic
when transplanting rice to protect against insect pests
1000-1300
Date growers in Arabia seasonally transported cultures of predatory
ants from nearby mountains to oases to control phytophagous ants which attack
date palm. First known example of movement by man of natural enemies for
purposes of biological control. Also at this time, weed control was practised
through mechanical removal with a hoe, crop rotations and cultivation method
1476
In Berne, Switzerland cutworms were taken to court, pronounced guilty,
excommunicated by the Archbishop and then banished
1485
The High Vicar of Valence commanded caterpillars to appear before him,
he gave them a defence council and finally condemned them to leave the area
1650-1780
Burgeoning of insect descriptions (after Linneaus) and biological
discoveries in the Renaissance
1732
Farmers begin to grow crops in rows to facilitate weed removal
1763
Linnaeus won a prize for an essay under the name of C.N. Nelin on how
orchards could be freed from caterpillars. He suggested use of mechanical and
biological control methods
1750-1880
Agricultural revolution in Europe. Crop protection became more
extensive and international trade promoted the discovery of the botanical
insecticides pyrethrum and derris
Early
1800's Appearance of first books and papers
devoted entirely to pest control covering cultural control, biological
control, varietal control, physical and chemical control
1840
Potato blight (Phytophthora infestans) outbreak in Ireland, England and
Belgium leading to widespread famine. Also Boisgiraud collected and liberated
large numbers of predatory carabid beetles Calasoma sycophanta to destroy leaf
feeding larvae of the gypsy moth
1848-1878
Introduction of Viteus vitifoliae from Americas nearly put an end to
the French wine industry. The release of the natural enemy Tyroglyphus
phylloxerae to France from North America in 1873 provided adequate levels of
control
1870-1890
Grape Phylloxera (Viteus vitifoliae) and powdery mildew controlled in
French vineyards (by the introduction of Bordeaux mixture and Paris Green and
the use of resistant rootstalks and grafting)
1880
First commercial spraying machine
1883
Apanteles glomeratus was imported from the UK to the USA to control
cabbage white butterfly
1888
First major success with imported biological control agents
Cryptochetum iceryae and the coccinellid beetle Rodolia cardinalis from
Australia for the control of cottony-cushion scale in US citrus fruits
1890's
Introduction of lead arsenate for insect control
1893
Recognition of arthropods as vectors of human diseases
1896
First selective herbicide, iron sulphate, was found to kill broad leaf
weeds
1901
First successful biological control of a weed (lantana in Hawaii)
1899-1909
Breeding programme that developed varieties of cotton, cowpeas and
water melon resistant to Fusarium wilt
1915
Control of malaria and yellow fever carrying mosquitoes allowing
completion of the Panama Canal after its abandonment in the late 1800's
1920-1930
More than 30 cases of natural enemy establishment were recorded
throughout the world
1921
First aerial application in insecticide against Catalpa sphinx moth in
Ohio, USA
1929
First area-wide eradication of an insect pest against Meditteranean
fruit fly in Florida, USA
1930
Introduction of snythetic organic compounds for plant pathogen control
1932
See the "History of the
Development of Organophosphate Poisons" from The Best Control.
1939
Recognition of insecticide properties of DDT
1940
W.G.Templeman observed the amazing selectivity of the herbicidal
activity of ·- naphthalacetic acid. The subsequent development of this
compound led to 2,4-D in 1944 and MCPA which revolutionized weed control in
cereals. Use of milky disease to control the Japanese beetle as the first
successful use of an entomopathogen
1942
First successful plant breeding programme for insect resistance in crop
plants through release of wheat resistant to the Hessian fly. Rediscovery of
the insecticidal properties of benezene hexachloride and in particular its
gamma isomer ("-BHC) shared with DDT the credit for the dawn of a new era
of insect control in agriculture, horticulture, stored products, timber
perservation and public health
1944
First hormone based herbicide - 2,4-D available
1946
First report of insect resistance to DDT in houseflies in Sweden.
1950's-60's
Widespread development of resistance to DDT and other pesticides
1950's
First applications of systems analysis to crop pest control
1959
Introduction of concepts of economic thresholds, economic levels and
integrated control by V.M. Stern, R.F. Smith, R. van den Bosch and K.S. Hagen
1960
First insect sex pheromone isolated, identified and synthesis in the
gypsy moth
1962
Publication of "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
1962
"In England [in 1951]...the Ministry of Agriculture considered it
necessary to give warning of the hazard of going into the arsenic-sprayed
fields, but the warning was not understood by the cattle (nor, we assume, by
the wild animals and birds) and reports of cattle poisoned by the arsenic
sprays came with monotonous regularity. When death also came to a farmer's
wife through arsenic-contaminated water, one of the major English chemical
companies (in 1959) stopped production of arsenical sprays and called in
supplies already in the hands of dealers, and shortly thereafter the Ministry
of Agriculture announced that because of high risks to people and cattle
restrictions on the use of arsenites would be imposed. In 1961, the Australian
government announced a similar ban. No such restrictions impede the use of
these poisons in the United States, however." - Rachel Carson,
"Silent Spring" 1962
1963
K.E.F. Watt introduced systems science to pest management
1965
Release of carbamate insecticide pirimicarb and pirimiphos ethyl, and
the systemic fungicide dimethirimol for control of mildew on cucurbits
1966
Release of the systemic fungicide ethirimol for control of mildew on
cereals
1967
Introduction of the term Integrated Pest Management by R.F. Smith and
R. van den Bosch. The relevance of ecology to IPM through the concept of
"Life Systems" was introduced by L.R. Clark, P.W. Geier, R.D.Hughes
and R.F. Morris. Release of pirimiphos methyl
1969
US National Academy of Sciencies formalized the term
Integrated Pest Management
1970's
Widespread banning of DDT
1970
"The questions which have been raised
recently concerning the hazards of 2,4,5-T and related chemicals...may
ultimately be regarded as portending the most horrible tragedy ever known to
mankind...In view of the potential disaster that could befall us-or
conceivably has insidiously befallen us-absolutely no delay is tolerable in
the search for answers." - Senator Philip Hart, April 1970
1971
"It should be evident, from nearly everything that has been said in this
book, that no economic system can be regarded as stable if its operation
strongly violates the principles of ecology. ...both socialist and capitalist
theory have apparently developed without taking into account the limited
capacity of the biological capital represented by the ecosystem. As a result,
neither system has as yet developed a means of accommodating its economic
operation to environmental imperatives. Neither system is well prepared to
confront the environmental crisis; ...nature is not 'the enemy,' but our
essential ally. The real question is to discover what kind of economic and
social order is best adapted to serve as a partner in the alliance with
nature." - Barry Commoner, "Closing the Circle," 1971
1972
Release of Bacillus thuringiensis insecticide based on isolate HD-1 for
control of lepidopterous pests
1975
Development and release of the synthetic pyrethroid insecticides
permethrin and cypermethrin
1974
"...Humans are exposed to heptachlor epoxide
from the moment of conception on throughout life." Dr. George Harvey,
Woods Hole Oceanopgraphic Institution, 1974
1976
"First, an industry will claim that it can't
comply with a proposed standard, because the technology to do so does not
exist. Next, the industry will claim that the cost will drive it out of
business. Finally, companies announce that they can, but it will cost
everybody plenty." Leonard Woodcock, president, UAW, 1976
1976
"Regulation of pesticide use by the Federal Government is critically
dependent on the safety testing data submitted by the firms that manufacture
and market pesticides." -- Senate Subcommittee on Administrative Practice
and Procedure, December 1976
1979
"We do not know where the millions of tons [of toxic waste] is going. We
feel that the things that have turned up like the Love Canal are simply the
tip of the iceberg. We do not have the capacity at this time really to find
out what is actually happening. In my view, it is simply a wide open
situation, like the Wild West was in the 1870s, for toxic disposal. The public
is basically unprotected. There just are not any lawmen out there, State or
Federal, policing this subject." -Assistant Attorney General James
Moorman, 1979
1980
"Our groundwaters are threatened by ruinous contamination...this will
become the environmental horror story of the 1980's...the most grievous error
in judgment we as a nation ever have made." - EPA Assistant administrator
Eckhardt Beck, 1980
1980
In April 1980, the President's Council on Environmental Quality issued a
report by economics professor A. Myrick Freeman. It concluded that
"national benefits which have been realized from reductions in air
pollution before 1970 lie in the range from roughly $5 billion to $51 billion
per year," with the best estimate for 1978 being $21.4 billion. The
savings included lowered damage to human health, crops, forests, vegetation,
buildings and other property.
1980
"...EPA chose to discount all of this
evidence, including its own study conducted in 1973, which seriously
undermined Velsicol [corporation's] claims that leptophos was safe. Instead,
EPA chose to credit and rely upon reports developed for and submitted by
Velsicol-all of which concluded that leptophos was safe. And on May 31, 1974,
EPA granted tolerances for leptophos in and on tomatoes and lettuce." -
Senate Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure
1980
"...Some of the pesticides...are so long-lasting and so pervasive in the
environment that virtually the entire human population of the Nation, and
indeed the world, carries some body burden of one or several of them."
1980 - Library of Congress study, 1980
1980
"In summary, we believe that toxic chemicals are adding to the disease
burden of the US in a significant, although as yet not precisely defined, way.
In addition, we believe that this problem will become more important in the
years ahead...We believe that the magnitude of the public health risk
associated with toxic chemicals currently is increasing and will continue to
do so until we are successful in identifying chemicals which are highly toxic
and controlling the introduction of these chemicals into our
environment." - Report of the Surgeon General, 1980
1981
"Last year, Americans used well over a billion pounds of chemical
pesticides and herbicides. We are all served up a stew of chemical leftovers
as residues of these pesticides and the compounds to which they degrade find
their way into our food and water...The effect of these substances on our
health, not to mention the health of the environment, is not completely
known...Since WWII the production of toxic pesticides has doubled every nine
years to reach a staggering total of 1.6 billion pounds in 1980. Many of the
most hazardous of these poisons have been banned, but are still produced in
the US for export. ...The pesticide manufacturers claim they test the safety
of their product, but it is rare that they go to the expense of performing
exhaustive tests. Federal agencies lack either the will or the clout to demand
adequate safety tests..." Friends of the Earth, 1981
1982
In April 1979, KRON TV in San Francisco ran a documentary film "Politics
of Poison." It focused on herbicide spraying in California, dioxin,
miscarriages and birth deformities. It quoted Dow Chemical Corporation
spokesman Cleve Goring labeling the public campaign against spraying of this
poison as "chemical McCarthyism." The film provoked 40,000 letters
from viewers, "demanding action," as Regenstein described. SF
Examiner columnist Bill Mandel wrote: "The only sensible conclusions one
can draw are these: that commercial interests are spraying populated areas
with herbicides considered too deadly for use as chemical weapons; that
government agencies charted with the protection of the public and the
environment are powerless or too cowardly to do anything about this rain of
death from the skies; that health officials look everywhere for explanations
except at the culprits; and that massive expenditures by the timber and
chemical companies paralyze the fact-aimed opposition of scientists and
residents of the affected areas." - Lewis Regenstein, "America the
Poisoned", 1982
1982
In 1972, William Longwood wrote in The Darkening Land: "Each spraying
makes more spraying necessary...The farmer desperately turns to new and more
powerful poisons. More imbalances result. More poison residues are in the
crops for people to eat...Even after all the spraying, losses due to pests are
about the same as they were 50 years ago-about 10%....We have destroyed the
old, and the new does not work. We set out to poison bugs so we could feed
ourselves. We wind up feeding the bugs and poisoning ourselves." -Lewis
Regenstein, "America the Poisoned", 1982
1985
First resistance reported to Bacillus thuringiensis in the flour moth
Plodia interpunctella.India and Malaysia declare IPM official Ministerial
Polcy
1986
Germany makes IPM official policy through the Plant Protection Act.
Indonesia Presidential Decree makes IPM official policy. Phillipines - IPM
implicit in Presidential declaration
1987
IPM implicit in Parliamentary decsions in Denmark and Sweden
1988
Major IPM successes in rice systems in Indonesia
1988
As Rachel Carson once wrote, 'no responsible
chemist would think of combining in his lab' the multitude of chemicals that
are jumbled together when dumped. In 1985, companies in the USA generated 500
billion pounds of synthetic organics (compared with one billion pounds in
1940). Industry now uses 65,000 different chemicals, adding 1,000 new ones
each year. Only a handful have been tested, despite the evidence of chemical
inks to the diseases and disorders listed earlier. Over 400,000 firms generate
products capable of producing these ill-effects. Some 25,000 companies
transport them, by truck, ship and plane. Another 25,000 companies store,
dump, or 'do' things to them, which they are arrogant enough to call
'treatment.'... Richard Grossman, 1988
1989
First resistance reported to genetically engineered Pseudomonas
fluorescens containing the delta endotoxin of Bacillus thuringiensis
1991
IPM implicit in multiyear plan for crop protection introduced by
Cabinet decision in the Netherlands
1992
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. World's Heads
of State, Agenda 21, Rio de Janeiro
1993
Greater than 504 insect species are known to be resistant to at least
one formulation of insecticide and at least 17 species of insect species are
resistant to all major classes of insecticide. 150 fungi and other plant
pathogens are resistant and several plant pathogens are resistant to nearly
all systemic fungicides used against them. Five kinds of rats are known to be
resistant to the chemicals that are used against them. Resistance to
herbicides have been documented in over 100 weed biotypes and 84 species (Cate
and Hinkle 1994). (Note: There are only about 1,000 recognized pest species -SLT)
REFERENCES
Carson, R. (1962) Silent Spring.
Cate, J.R. and M.K. Hinkle (1994) Integrated Pest Management: The Path of a Paradigm, National Audubon Society, July 1994, Washington, D.C. pp. 40.
Clark, L.R., P.W. Geier, R.D. Hughes and R.F. Morris (1967) Thr Ecology of Insect Populations in Theory and Practice.
R.F. Smith and R. van den Bosch (1967) Integrated Control In Pest Control:Biological, Physical and Selected Chemical Methods, Kilgore, W.W. and R.L. Doutt (eds.), Academic Press, New York p.295-340.
Stern, V.M., R.F. Smith, R. van den Bosch and K.S. Hagen (1959) The integrated control concept. Hilgardia 29, 81-101
Watt, K.E.F. (1961) Mathematical models for use in insect pest control. Canadian Entomologist 93, Suppliment 19, pp 62.
Article also at: http://www.pestmanagement.co.uk/culture/history.html
HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANOPHOSPHATE POISONS
J. E. DuBois Jr. in The Devil's Chemists noted that the organophosphate pesticide poisons (OPO4) were developed in Hitler's Germany during World War II. These toxic poisons included TEPP (tetraethyl pyrophosphate, developed as a nicotine substitute), followed by Tabun
(dimethyl phosphoroamidocyanidate) and Sarin (isopropyl methylphosphono fluoridate) - the chemical "nerve agents" that have been employed as nerve gases in warfare. The developer I. G.
Farben, not content with tests on monkeys, confirmed lethality by testing Tabun on prisoners at
Aushwitz. Thus, the OPO4 poisons such as chlorpyrifos and Diazinon became direct descendants of these nerve gas agents.
The Leading Edge International Research Journal, No. 104 noted in part: In 1939 the Drug Trust was formed by an alliance of the world's two greatest cartels in world history - the Rockefeller Empire and the German chemical company, I. G. Farbenindustrie (I. G.
Farben). Drug profits from that onwards curved upwards into gigantic proportions and by 1948 it became a 10 billion dollar year industry. I. G. Farben's unsavory past is highlighted by the fact that during the Second World War it built and operated a massive chemical plant at Auschwitz using slave
labour. Approximately 300,000 concentration-camp workers passed through I. G. Farben's facilities at Auschwitz and at least 25,000 of them were worked to death. Others were brutally killed in I. G. Farben's drug testing programs. Twelve of I. G. Farben's top executives were sentenced to terms of imprisonment for slavery and mistreatment offences at the Nuremberg war crime trials. Hoescht and Bayer, the largest and third largest companies in world pharmaceutical sales respectively, are descended from I. G.
Farben. In September 1955, Hoechst appointed Friedrich Jaehne, a convicted war criminal from the Nuremberg trials, as chairman of its supervisory board. Also, a year later, Bayer appointed Fitz ter
Meer, another convicted war criminal, as Chairman of its board.
In "Pesticides and Neurological Diseases" it was noted that in 1932, Lange in Berlin synthesized some compounds containing a phosphorus-fluoride bond (esters of monofluorophosphoric acid from silver salts and alkyl halides). During the synthesis of
dimethyl- and diethylphosphorofluoridate, Lange and his graduate student, Gerda von Krueger, noted toxic effects of the vapors on themselves, the pertinent observations being included in a published chemical paper. Lange was unable to convince the chemical industry and I. G.
Farbenindustrie, in particular, that the alkyl esters synthesized might be useful insecticides. In 1934, Gerhard Schrader was appointed by Otto Bayer to pursue the development of synthetic insecticides for I. G.
Farbenindustrie, but it was not until 1936 that Schrader began working on phosphorus and sulfur acid fluorides in search of aphicidal and acaricidal compounds, initially discovering methane sulfonyl fluoride which was used as a fumigant. From 1938 to 1944, Schrader developed a series of fluorine-containing esters including DFP
(di-isopropylfluorophosphate) and Sarin (l-methylethyl
methylphosphonofluoridate), pyrophosphate esters including TEPP and OMPA (octamethylpyrophosphortetramide) and
thio- and thionophosphorus esters including parathion and its oxygen analog
paraxon. He was aware of the toxic signs produced by these esters and, while the potency of some of these chemicals prevented their development and use as "insecticides", they were of immediate interest to the German Ministry of Defense which recognized their value as chemical warfare agents. Production of stocks of Tabun and Sarin were carried out in a factory outside of
Duhernfurt, near Breslau. Soman (1,2,2-trimethylpropyl
methylphosphonofluoridate), another nerve gas was also synthesized at this factory. The pharmacological and toxicological studies of these compounds were carried out in a number of industrial and military laboratories.
British scientists had taken note of the comments of Lange and Krueger concerning the toxicity of
acylphosphorofluoridates, and during World War II they were paying particular attention to fluorine-containing compounds. With this lead, it is interesting to note that studies conducted by these two protagonists were almost parallel, DFP and other alkyl phosphorofluoridates being the prime test chemicals. A similar line of investigation was being followed at Edgewood Arsenal in the U. S., again DFP being a compound of choice in such studies. Scientists on both sides of the Atlantic were well aware of the potent, irreversible, anticholinesterase properties of these esters. When the structures and properties of the German nerve gases Tabun and Sarin became known, it was realized that they were more potent than DFP by an order of two of magnitude.
With the cessation of hostilities and the exchange of information in the post-war period, the chemistry of organophosphorus insecticide poisons developed at a rapid rate. The decade from 1950 to 1960 can well be said to have been the era of the organophosphate poisons. Malathion
[diethyl(dimethoxyphosphinothioyl) thiobutanedioate] was introduced by the American Cyanamid Company in 1950; this ester contains carboxy ester groups. In 1951, G. Schrader continued developing new insecticide poisons including
Systox® (demeton or mercaptophos, a mixture of the thiono- and thioloisomers of O,O-diethyl-2-ethylmercaptoethyl phosphorothioate), thereby introducing a new class of insecticide poisons having a thioether group. In 1952, the Perkow reaction was first described in which alpha-halogen carbonyl compounds were reacted with triethyl
phosphite, resulting in the synthesis of a number of new dialkylvinyl phosphate esters such as dichlorvos (2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate) and trichlorfon
(O,O-dimethyl [2,2,2-trichloro-1-hydroxyethyl] phosphate. The thio- and thionophosphorus esters arising from parathion and containing substituted aryl and heterocyclic groups have also been synthesized. Today, a wide range of organophosphorus esters having a variety of biological properties are available for such equally diversified range of uses as various "registered" poisons, e.g., insecticides,
nematocides, acaricides, fungicides, etc.
Taken from the latest version of THE BEST CONTROL by Stephen L. Tvedten
Well Mr. Helliker, I would like to add only one thought to the above: "Polite people get poisoned; angry people get
organized." People are getting organized and they will (eventually) stop you from POISONING those of us who do not
wish to be routinely POISONED by your "registered" POISONS!
Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten
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