Insect eradication

R.J. Koestler, Insect eradication using controlled atmospheres and FTIR measurement for insect activity, ICOM Committee for Conservation 10th Triennial Meeting, Washington, DC, 1993, 882-885. 

The high heat transfer efficiency makes the unit, using sand as a particulate, suitable for heat treatment applications such as pasteurization, precooking, insect eradication, and other applications in which moisture removal is not apriority. With zeolites as the transfer medium, moisture removal rates double, thus bringing drying efficiency up to the standards. 

With the advent of DDT it became possible to think in terms of the eradication of insect pests instead of their control only. Although very lethal organic toxicants such as the pyrethrins and rotenone had been previously employed, their instability under normal conditions of use limited their utility. 

As a result, the timely arrival of the chemical made it a war hero. Combined with a strategy of eradication (rather than control) of pest insects, DDT was used on a massive scale, received international press, and was incorporated into the propaganda machine of the late war period. This provided it an easy launching platform into civilian markets upon the cessation of hostilities. 

While leafy spurge can be controlled by herbicides ( ) or vigorous cultivation, the cost of control is continuous since current chemical means do not eradicate this weed. More than 20 million dollars a year is spent for the control of this plant, and its agro-economic impact is greater than 12 million dollars per year in the state of North Dakota alone ( ). Recent research efforts on the leafy spurge problem have concentrated on Increased herbicide efficiency and the successful application of insect biological control methods. 

Benzyl benzoate has been used as an insect repellent in formulations for repelling mosquitoes, chiggers, ticks, and fleas, and in the control of livestock insects. Benzyl benzoate was used in the Vietnam War to eradicate and repel certain ticks and mites. It has also found some usage in medicine, cosmetics, and as a plasticizer. 

Experiments with house flies pointed to a considerable buffering action in the intestine.3 Solutions of arsenious acid and of the stoichiometric quantities of sodium hydroxide and arsenious oxide to form normal sodium arsenite, containing 15 g. of sucrose per 100 c.c., were fed to adult flies. The pH values of the former solutions were 6-58 to 6-96 and of the latter 11-3 to 11-4, but the toxicities were equal, being 0-14 mg. As per g. body weight—a large value for an insect. None of these solutions was repellent to the flies, but if the pH was increased beyond 11-4 repellent action was observed house fly bait therefore should not contain more alkali than is necessary to hold the arsenic in solution. The eradication of the tsetse fly by similar means is difficult. There is not much chance of a poisonous dose being taken from the skin of a dipped animal, but a toxic dose can be taken up from an arsenic-impregnated area by means of the proboscis.4... 

Selectivity and Spectral Range of Insecticides. There is no practical universal insecticide because such a chemical, to successfully eradicate all forms of insect life, would be dangerous 10 other life forms. There are. 

Inappropriate adaptations in climate are lethal ai certain limes of the vear they are conditional lethal traits A conditional lethal trail or combination ol conditional lethal irails can he used to suppress or eradicate inseel populations. The principle ol suppressing insect populations hy mean of their adaptations lo climate has been suggested by a number of inveslig.uors. 

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