Mass Insect Control Programs:Four Case Histories

Insect control is a vast subject. It encompasses many methods of approach meant to protect a wide diversity of human resources, in- cluding the lives and health of humans themselves. Upon the success or failure of insect control program.s have rested the fate. of armies, o]? great canals and populous lands. Yet, though man has registered many practical successes against particular insect menaces, we do not yet understand ]?ully the underlying dynamics of insect populations Psyche [June-September we may not understand exactly how a particular measure takes its effect. In recent, years, developments in practical insect control have come thick and fast, particularly in the field of pesticides. The de- velopment since World War II of chlorinated hydrocarbons, carba- mate and organic phosphate, insecticides, distributed by mass aerial spray techniques, has revolutionizcd .control work and has raised insec- ticide production and aerial application to the status of big businesses.