ABSTRACT
The synthetic pesticides had a glorious past and did a yeoman’s service to mankind in increasing agricultural production and improving food and health quality. Before World War II, pesticides in common use were predominantly inorganic materials, such as sulfur, lead, copper, arsenic, boron, and mercury, as well as botanical ones, such as nicotine, pyrethrum, and rotenone. The advent of organic insecticides really began with the discovery of DDT’s insecticidal properties (1939-1942) by Paul Muller. The use of DDT in controlling mosquito vectors saved millions of lives in the Indian subcontinent by preventing malaria. Its astonishing ef…cacy led to the development of a variety of other synthetic organic pesticides such as aldrin, dieldrin, toxaphene, and endosulfan followed by organophosphates (malathion, diazinon, and chlorpyrifos), carbamates (carbaryl, carbofuran, and Baygon), and synthetic pyrethroids, the second most signi…cant group after organophosphorus compounds.
