The new nrdc pyrethroids as agricultural insecticides

The extremely high insecticidal activity and favourable toxicology of the synthetic pyrethroids are properties which have always made them attractive insecticides. However, their marked instability, coupled with a relatively high cost of manufacture, has always precluded their widespread use in agriculture. The new synthetic pyrethroids, typified by permethrin (NRDC 143), thus represent a significant advance in agricultural insecticide terms, since they show greatly increased stability while retaining the favourable properties of high insect and low mammalian toxicity. A considerable amount of knowledge has been obtained from laboratory and field experiments with the new pyrethroids over the last two years. This paper surveys the results obtained, which have confirmed the high level of efficacy of this series of compounds against some of the most important pests of agriculture.