ABSTRACT
All disciplines of biology have developed greatly since 1,1,1-trichloro-di-(4-chlorophenyl)ethane — better known as DDT — and the other synthetic pesticides were introduced just after the Second World War. At that time, the knowledge of the normal biochemical and physiological processes in organisms was not sufficiently clarified to make it possible for us to understand properly either the mode of action of the pesticides at the target site or their uptake, distribution, and degradation in the ambient environment. The development of resistance of various pests to pesticides should have been possible to predict at that time, even before the use of these pesticides had expanded so much, but how rapidly or to what degree resistance would develop and what biochemical mechanisms where behind the development had to be a matter of experience and research.
