ISLAND PRESS, NOVEMBER 2014
“A Miraculous Insecticide”
Desperate for a good night’s sleep, early-twentieth-century homeowners welcomed highly toxic products into their homes as chemical treatments became increasingly available. Mercuric chloride, benzene, sulfur fumes, cyanide gas, and even Zyklon B pellets (a form of cyanide subsequently used in Nazi gas chambers) promised some respite, even if this came at a risk to home and health. Then entomologists finally hit upon a chemical that worked and was relatively nontoxic to humans—DDT. It was nothing short of a miracle. Just after World War II, bedbugs virtually disappeared from the developed world. Although the chemical, a compound of chlorine, hydrogen, and carbon, was first synthesized in 1874, its insecticidal properties weren’t discovered until 1939.
Seeking a cheap, effective agricultural pesticide, Swiss chemist Paul ...
