History of Pesticide Use History of Pest Control ! Many pests plague humans: – Rats, mice, cockroaches, termites, beetles, moths/caterpillars, ants, lice, fleas, mosquitoes, spiders, mites, ticks, pigeons, raccoons, coyotes, deer, woodchucks, beavers, nematodes, fungi, weeds etc ! ! They compete for our food, eat our clothes, homes, impact our health, transmit disease, disturb our dominance over nature or simply annoy us. 1 2 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment Human ancestors had few problems Relationship with pests changed 10,000YA ! Advent of agriculture ! Didn’t grow and store ! Increased human food, no permanent density homes ! Stocks of domestic ! Pest control involved animals scratching, grooming, ! Grain stores swatting and ! Clothing fibres squashing 3 4 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment Pests in recorded history Early Pest Management Practices ! Locust swarms in ! Domain of witch doctors Bible ! Religious ceremonies and superstition – Added to list of kosher animals ! Limited success ! Greeks assigned Gods to the job ! Cave paintings in Tassili n’ Ajjer (Algeria) – Apollo: domain over mice and mildew show crop infestations – Hercules: domain over locusts and worms ! Egyptian papyrus documents also – Zeus: “flycatcher” 5 6 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment 1
Christianity Not all “Hoodoo Voodoo” ! Employed divinity in pest control up until 15th ! Early non-chemical pest control often century based on actual ecological principles – E.g. Romans drained swamps, built ! Pests tried in religious sewage systems, built baths court, found guilty, – E.g. Homer (800 BC) recognized excommunicated and usefulness of burning fields to control banished locusts 7 8 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment Geoponika Human Preference for Insecticides as Food ! Greek agricultural encyclopedia ! Question of dosage ! Listed insecticides including: ! Herbs and spices – Bay, asafetida, elder, cumin, ! Alcoholic beverages hellebore, oak, squill, cedar, absinthe, pomegranate etc. ! History of the world – Modern chemists have since – Route to the Orient identified insecticidal chemicals from all of the above 9 10 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment Little progress for ~1700 years Early Chemical Pesticides ! Sumerians: elemental sulfur for insects ! Ended with fall of Roman Empire and mites (2500 BC) (~476AD) ! Romans: added oil and used as insect ! Dark ages (475-1000AD) repellent ! Middle ages (1000-1700AD), dominated by ! Chinese: arsenic and mercury against religion, therefore no critical thinking body lice ! Resurgence in interest in pest control by – Earliest biological control using predatory 18th century ants against beetles and caterpillars in citrus orchards 11 12 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment 2
18th Century Mid 1800s ! Agriculture went from subsistence to ! Major pest problems in Europe commercial (revolution) – Potato blight in Ireland, England and Belgium – Powdery mildew on grapes ! Use of manure and other fertilizers – Fungus leaf disease on coffee in Ceylon (forced ! Expanded acreage switch to tea crops) – French wine industry threatened by grape ! Row planting phylloxera insect ! Facilitated by use of machines ! Infestations caused by – 1) Vast area of single food source – 2) Imperial colonization and trade spread pests around 13 14 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment Concurrent Medical Discoveries Origin of Today’s Chemical Pesticides ! Diseases were vectored by pests – 1st demonstrated case: Texas ! Can be traced to accidental observation Cattle Fever caused by by French grape farmer parasite, transmitted by flies ! Later discovered many ! Sprayed perimeter of vineyard to repel more: pests (humans) – Tse tse flies and African – Noticed these plants resisted powdery mildew Sleeping Sickness – Rat fleas and the plague ! Origin of Bordeaux Mixture (lime and – Mosquitoes and malaria copper sulfate) still widely used fungicide ! This knowledge stimulated push for chemical pest control 15 16 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment Phase 2 of Chemical Pesticide Industry First Phase of Chemical Pesticides ! French grape farmers started using copper aceto-arsenite against insects ! Chemical warfare ! Led to use of many other inorganic ! Chlorine gas (Germany, 1915) compounds ! WWII full expansion of chemical weapons via intense R&D – Arsenic, antimony, selenium, sulfur, thalium, zinc, copper – Goal of lowering soldier mortality due to pest vectored disease ! Full expansion of industry caused by – WWI soldiers plagued by fleas, ticks, bedbugs development of spray nozzle and airplane – Another interest was in anti-personnel chemicals distribution – Most insecticides neurotoxins and invert/vert nervous systems essentially the same 17 18 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment 15:34 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment 3
World War II Post-war period ! Both Axis and Allies developed and tested hundreds of chemicals ! Major breakthrough for USA with ! Chemicals abundant and cheap discovery of chemical highly toxic at low doses ! Miracle cures to pest infestation ! Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) ! Second agricultural revolution ! Emphasis switched from pest management to eradication 19 20 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment Pollution Problems Seen in Wildlife Resistance to Pesticides ! Overuse of ! Bioaccumulation pesticides led to and escalation due to Bioamplification resistance caused wildlife declines higher – 1948: 14 species up the food – 1969: 224 chain – 1990: >500 insects ! 1950-1960s ! Also: diseases, weeds ppm 21 22 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment Decline of Top Predators Reintroduction Programs ! Bald Eagle, Peregrine ! Captive bred and Falcon reintroduced to nature ! Egg-shell thinning ! US and Canadian Wildlife service ! 1970-1990s ! Populations back to normal 23 24 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment 4
Silent Spring: Rachel Carson (1962) Silent Spring: Rachel Carson (1962) ! Awakened world to ! Linked humans to ecology slow poisoning by ! Human body is permeable to toxins misuse of pesticides ! Died in 1964 but not before ! “Everyone should have environmental movement the right to secure their was triggered own home against the – DDT banned in N.Am. intrusion of poisons – Earth day applied by other – Establishment of EPA persons” – Post-humous Presidential Medal of Honour (1981) 25 26 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment Silent Spring: Rachel Carson (1962) Silent Spring: Rachel Carson (1962) ! Not without opposition ! Opposition came for 2 reasons: from people who hadn’t ! 1) fear of decreases in profits read it for chemical industry, ! Globe-Times Newspaper negatively affect economy (Pennsylvania): “No one in ! 2) differing views of role of either county farm office science in society who was talked to today – An era of scientific backfiring had read the book, but all (nuclear, thalidomide, DDT) disapproved of it heartily” – Double-edged sword: science can improve life and cause damage 27 28 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment However, the killing goes on ! Environmental Movement ! Agent Orange [2,4- dichloro- phenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) ! 1970s: nukes and whales and 2,4,5- trichlorophenoxyacetic acid ! 1980s: recycling paper (2,4,5-T)] � ! 1990s: CFCs and habitat conservation ! Used as a defoliant in Vietnam � ! 2000s: biodiversity and climate ! Released dioxins (carcinogen) � ! Canadian govt secretely tested in Gagetown, NB in ! Market shift recently towards chemical- 1967 � free food products (organic) – Sprayed on Ontario roads in 80s � – Stimulated increase in IPM techniques 29 30 BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment BIO 4101: Pesticides and the Environment 5
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