The History of Pest Control
Saturday, November 26th, 2011The application of pest control ranges from do-it-yourself arrangements to
scientific and incredibly precise deployment of chemicals and predatory insects by
highly trained practitioners. Despite the fact that pest management is really a world-wide
industry it’s still covered with family or 1-person businesses. The ones that need
to manage pests vary from householders to
massive agri-conglomerates who require to increase their yield. Between
both of these are restaurants, bars, food production facilities, farmers – actually,
anybody that routinely handles food. Pest control could make us more
comfortable – but could also save lives.
The word pest is subjective as one man’s pest might be another man’s
helper. For instance, pest A can be a threat to crop A, and pest B a threat to
crop B. However, if pest B is a natural predator to pest A, then your farmer who
needs to protect crop A may cultivate and release pest B amongst his crops.
There is a theory that without man’s intervention within the food chain through
agriculture, hunting and long distance travel there’d be no pests. The
theory continues that man’s intervention (for instance, in cultivating and
releasing pest B, or perhaps in carrying creatures long distances) has upset the total amount
from the food chain, producing instability in insect along with other animal numbers and
distorting their evolution. This instability has led to over-population of the
given
species which means that they have become pests. Having said that, if we think that the initial fly swat was the very first
instance of pest management – and we realize that large animals swat flies – it could be
argued that pest management goes back way before humans came on the scene.
The first recorded demonstration of pest management takes us to 2500BC when the Sumerians
used sulphur to control insects. Then around 1200BC china, within their great
age of discovery right at the end of the Shang Dynasty, were using chemicals to
control insects. China continued to develop more and more sophisticated
chemicals and methods of controlling insects for crops and for people’s comfort.
Without doubt the spread of pest management know-how was helped through the advanced state of
Chinese writing ability. Although progress in pest control methods undoubtedly
continued, the following significant scrap of evidence doesn’t come until around
750BC when Homer described the Greek utilization of wood ash spread on land like a form of
pest management.
Around 500BC the Chinese were using mercury and arsenic compounds as a way
to manage body lice, a typical problem throughout history. In 440BC the traditional
Egyptian’s used fishing nets to cover their beds or their homes at night like a
defense against mosquitoes
From 300BC
there’s proof of the use of use of predatory insects to control pests,
although this method was probably developed before this date. The Romans
developed pest control methods and these ideas were spread all through the
empire. In
200BC, Roman censor Cato encouraged the use of oils as a way of pest management
as well as in 70AD Pliny the Elder wrote that galbanum resin (in the fennel plant)
ought to be added to sulphur to be able to discourage mosquitoes. In 13BC the first recorded rat-proof grain store was built by the Romans.
The very first known instance where predatory insects were transported from one area to another comes from Arabia around 1000AD where date growers moved cultures of ants from neighboring mountains to their oasis plantations so as
to victimize phytophagous ants which attacked date palm.
Regardless of the enlightenment provided by the ancient Chinese, Arabs and Romans,
many of their teachings did not pass down though time. Certainly in Europe
throughout the dark ages, ways of pest management were just like apt to be according to
superstition and local spiritual rituals as any proven method. Pests were often
viewed as workers of evil – particularly those that ruined food, crops or livestock.
Although there were undoubtedly studies of pests during the old, we do not
have any recorded evidence of this.
It’s not before the European renaissance when more proof of pest management
emerges. In 1758 the great Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus
catalogued and named many pests. His writings were (and remain) the main and
source of future study into pests (as well as plants and animals generally). At
the same time frame, the agricultural revolution began in Europe and heralded a far more widespread use of pest control. Using the work of Linnaeus and other
scholars and the commercial needs to ensure crops and livestock were protected,
pest control became more systemized and spread throughout the world. As global
trade increased, new pesticides were discovered.
At this point pest control was completed by farmers plus some householders
being an everyday activity. By the early nineteenth century however, this changed
as studies and writings began to appear that treated pest control as a
separate discipline. Increasing utilization of intensive and large scale farming brought
matching increases within the intensity and scale of pest scares like the
disastrous potato famine in Ireland in 1840. Pest management management was scaled
up to meet these demands, to the point that dedicated pest controllers began to
emerge throughout the Twentieth century.
In 1921 the first crop-spraying aeroplane was employed and in 1962 flying insect control was revolutionized when Insect-o-cutor started selling fly killer
machines using ultra-violet lamps.
Pest management continues to be carried out by farmers and householders to this day.
There’s also pest management specialists (sometimes called pesties); many
are one-person businesses yet others work with large companies. In most countries
the pest management industry continues to be dogged by a few bad practitioners who’ve
tarnished the reputation for the highly professional and responsible majority.