An insecticide is a substance used by humans to gain some advantage in the struggle with various insects that are considered "pests." In the sense used here, a pest insect is considered undesirable, from the human perspective, because: (a) it is a vector that transmits diseasecausing pathogens to humans (such as those causing malaria or yellow fever), or other diseases to livestock o…
Insecticides are an extremely diverse group of chemicals, plus additional formulations based on living microorganisms. The most important groups of insecticides are described below. …
Humans have attained important benefits from many uses of insecticides, including: (1) increased yields of crops because of protection from defoliation and diseases; (2) prevention of much spoilage of stored foods; and (3) prevention of certain diseases, which conserves health and has saved the lives of millions of people and domestic animals. Pests destroy an estimated 37% of the potential yield …
The considerable benefits of many uses of insecticides are partially offset by damages caused to ecosystems and sometimes to human health. Each year about one million people are poisoned by pesticides (mostly by insecticides), including 20,000 fatalities. Although developing countries only account for about 20% of global pesticide use, they sustain about half of the poisonings. This is because hig…
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