Word: ddt
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WILLIAMS believes he is hot on the trail of "third generation pesticides" that are far superior to the lead arsenate and DDT that epitomize the two earlier generations...
...most thorough studying linking DDT to robin kills in New England was done five years ago at Dartmouth. After a "typical" DDT application, the robin population dropped 70 percent. Many robins and other birds were found in convulsions...
...chemicals that are replacing DDT nowadays have the advantage of breaking down more quickly in the environment, but they still hit a broad spectrum of insects-often beneficial ones...
...hormonal insecticides were to succeed, they would have to attack only one pest, while leaving the species' natural insect predators unharmed. Otherwise, hormones would be merely a more potent variety of DDT from an ecologist's point of view...
However, high costs may be outweighed by another factor. Some species, such as the malaria mosquito, have developed strains resistant to second generation insecticides like DDT. They can hardly be expected to develop resistance to their own hormones, Williams points...