Insecticide

Insecticides are chemicals that kill insects. Manufactured insecticides have long been deemed necessary to kill insects that have venomous or lethal bites, or those which simply have an irritating bite or sting. Many insects and particularly their larvae attack plants and cash crops and so are the bane of farmers and gardeners. Insecticides are indicated for agricultural use where large quantities of highly-effective poison are required.

Using such poisons is not without consequences. For one thing, insecticides do not discriminate, killing insects humans find useful as well as those that are destructive. In addition, strong poisons may harm or even kill wild and domestic fish and animals as well.

Insecticide resistance

Use of insecticides is associated to insect resistance and often, as a result, more extensive use of the said insecticides. Insecticide resistance is a topic of concern that has been traditionally studied by two groups of scientists: agronomists and ecologists on the one hand, and medical scientists on the other hand. Concern has been voiced that there exists too little interaction between the two groups.