5 Steps to a 5 by Linda D. Williams

Author:Linda D. Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
Published: 2017-04-08T04:00:00+00:00

Types of Pesticides

Historically, humans have controlled pests with smoke, salt, sand, and insect-repelling plants. The ancient Sumerians used sulfur to control insects and mites 5,000 years ago. Greeks and Romans used oils, ash, lime, and other compounds to protect themselves, their crops, and their animals from pests.

Modern pest control is performed by eliminating pests’ living conditions, such as swamps. Pesticides are chemicals that kill or repel certain pests, while biocides kill a broader range of organisms. In addition to their use for pest control, biocides are also found in adhesives, paints, leathers, petroleum products, and plastics, as well as recreational and industrial water treatment in totals of around 300 million pounds per year. This large amount accounts for less than 10% of the total U.S. yearly pesticide use.

Around 80% of all pesticides in the United States are used in agriculture or food storage and shipping. Chemicals, which kill specific targets, are named accordingly. These are insecticides (kill insects), herbicides (kill plants and weeds), acaricides (kill spider mites and ticks), rodenticides (kill rats and mice), and fungicides (kill molds and fungus). Pesticides are also described by application methods such as fumigation (gassing) to treat wood against insects. Pesticides are categorized by chemical structure. These are inorganic, natural organic, fumigant, chlorinated hydrocarbons, organophosphates, carbamates, and biological agents. Table 12.1 shows the makeup of these various pesticides.

Table 12.1 Pesticides use many different chemicals to eliminate a variety of pests.

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