ABSTRACT
The history of commerce in the uses of parts of the neem tree is shrouded in the mystery and lore of the Vedic period of India when the many uses of neem tree parts were developed into Ayurvedic medicine. Only in the 1900s was it discovered that a crude neem extract could act as a repellant, an antifeedant, and more recently, as a growth regulator due to hormonal disruption. In the distant past, aside from home use to protect food in bags, boxes and pots. The "commercial" development of neem arose from the expression of oil from the seed kernels to fill the demand for lamp fuel, medicinal body lotions and purgatives, as well as soap bases. During the mid and later 1970s, the USDA at Beltsville, MD began efforts to test topically and in diets the efficacy of solutions containing up to 90% pure azadirachtin extracted from neem seeds, obtained in India, on a variety of insects.
