DDT and its Relatives

Dr. M. Asif Farooq

Institute of Plant Protection
MNS-University of Agriculture, Multan
Chlorinated Hydrocarbons
Oldest major insecticide class
First widely used synthetic organic insecticides
Very effective
Environmental and human safety concern
All insecticides of this group contain
• Chlorine, Hydrogen, Carbon
• Oxygen and sulfur (occasionally)
 DDT and relative
 HCH and Lindane
 Cyclo-dienes
 Poly-chloroterpenes
DDT and Relative
• Most famous/infamous of all insecticides
• Most of the products are banned: DDT banned in 1973
• Characteristic stability and fat solubility
• Slow breakdown (several years)
Breakdown by enzymes/microorganism, heat, UV light
• Provides active residues to animal and plant uptake
• Sublethal doses ingested by animals and with no
breakdown get deposited in fat bodies
• Secondary intoxication in predators
• Biomagnification in food chain
• Decline in bird predator population (osprey, falcon,
eagles, seagulls and many others)
DDT and Relative
• Longer insecticidal activity
• Importance in medicine as vector control (Mosquito, Lice,
Flea)
• Widely used in Agriculture: Peak time 1961
• Effective against almost all insects with exception of
• Grasshopper, Boll weevil, Aphid, Mexican bean beetle
• Overwhelming effectiveness and exceptionally low cost led to
its overuse
• TDE, Ethylan and Methoxychlor closely related to DDT
• Methoxychlor used against flies after they developed
resistance to DDT and to treat empty storage bins
• Only pesticide, of this group, still registered is DICOLFOL
against Mites of fruits, vegetables, ornamentals and field crops
HCH and Lindane
• Earlier call BHC
• Developed by French and British Entomologists around 1940
• Wide spectrum (Kills more types of insects)
• Characterized by a disagreeable musty odor and flavor
• Its taste then be detected in plants and plant products
• Comprise of 5 isomers: only one of which is highly active
• Gamma isomer: isolated, manufactured and sold directly as the
insecticide Lindane.
Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH)
• Lindane is odorless and volatile
• Widely used as a house hold fumigant: by electric dispenser
• Used for commercial ornamentals, livestock, dog shampoos, human
parasiticide
• Banned/eliminated
Cyclodienes
• Developed after DDT and HCH (beginning about 1945)
• Aldrin, Dieldrin, Chlordane, Heptachlor, Endrin, Mirex,
Endosulfan
• Chlordane was widely used against termites and mirex
for fire ants.
• Endosulfan is still used in a variety of horticultural and
field crops
• These insecticides are persistent chemicals, stable in soil
and relatively so in the sunlight.
• Persistent chemicals; stable in soil and sunlight
• Higher levels of mammalian toxicity than DDT
• Insecticide resistance and residue uptake in harvested
produce
• Environmental hazard lead to elimination
Poly-chloroterpenes
• Almost exclusively agricultural chemicals
• Strobane and Toxaphene
• Toxaphene: single most used chemical at its peak (>40%)
• Prepared by the chlorination of camphene: a derivative of
pine tree materials
• Widely used in agriculture specially in cotton Toxaphene
• Very effective when mixed with other chemicals (methyl
parathion)
• P-terpenes are easily metabolized by birds and mammals
and storage in the bodyfat is low
• Not highly toxic to other animals
• Toxaphene is a potent fish poison
• Use has been canceled