Word: pest
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...really do the job," says Steve Pfister, a Lexington, Neb., corn and alfalfa farmer. But entomologists and some farm experts feel that in the long run, less dependence on pesticides will be beneficial to the farmer. Many scientists believe that the introduction of pesticides like DDT, which promised easy pest control, actually intensified the problem by encouraging the abandonment of such traditional?and sound?agricultural practices as rotating and diversifying crops and adjusting times of planting to avoid insect infestations. "Insecticides have failed not because of any inherent weakness in the concept of reducing insect populations by chemicals," writes Vincent...
...treadmill, entomologists are advocating a different approach to pest control. They no longer speak of eradicating insect species: the costs both in dollars and environmental side effects are simply too great, the chances of success too small. What they are after instead is what George Georghiou of the University of California at Riverside calls a Mexican standoff, in which insect depredations could be kept small enough to be acceptable economically...
...strategy for achieving this goal is called integrated pest control, or ICP. Advocates of ICP leave room in their antibug arsenals for insecticides. The more potent pesticides will always be needed, they say, to cope with any insect problem that suddenly gets out of hand?a mosquito infestation brought on by an unusually hot, damp summer, for example, or an unexpected attack on a particular crop. But entomologists and agricultural scientists now believe that the most promising weapons for the battle are biological controls, which can be aimed at specific insect targets without adversely affecting either humans or the environment...
...males and females is achieved. After synthesizing both pheromones, the researchers applied both of them to several trees. Approaching beetles were so confused that they lost their nesting and mating instincts and dispersed into the forest. Capitalizing on the irresistible attraction of sex pheromones for specific species of insects, pest-control experts have been using the compounds to lure insects into traps, where they can be killed or counted to help entomologists determine whether further antipest activities, such as spraying with insecticides, may be necessary...
...proved so successful that within five years other men had plans afoot to build another bridge upstream. By this time Hancock was governor. He didn't dare veto the bridge outright. Instead, he did what he considered the next best thing. He required it to be built near the Pest House-the infirmary for contangious diseased-and required the builders to pay Harvard 300 pounds per year as a fee. The proprietors regarded the first condition as perfectly convenient and, as to the second, they took their case to the general court which agreed they should pay Harvard no more...