Table 1.
Brief history of pesticide use (Source: PubChem.com).
| Time period | Type of pesticide use |
|---|---|
| Ancient time | Ashes, blisters, and common salts |
| 1st century to 15th century | Arsenic, a suggestion of soda and olive oil for the treatment of legumes (Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist-Historia Naturalis) |
| 16th century to the of the 18th century | Arsenicals and nicotine in the form of tobacco extracts (Chinese farmers) |
| 1850–1866 | Pyrethrum, soap, and a wash of tobacco, sulfur, and lime are also used |
| 1867–1895 | The pigment Paris green (an impure form of copper arsenite), Paris green, and kerosene oil emulsion |
| 1896–1899 | Bordeaux mixture (CuSO4 and Ca (OH)2) and selective chemical herbicides |
| 1900–1960 | Dilute sulfuric acid, copper nitrates, and potassium salts Sodium arsenite solutions become the standard herbicides and are used in large quantities. Organomercury seed dressing. Dithiocarbamates fungicides used in the US. |
| 1961 | DDT is registered for use on 34 different crops as pesticide usage dramatically increases |
| 1962–1971 | Stoppage of DDT usage and other chlorinated compounds by farmers. Favor of the use of Organophosphates and Carbamates |
| 1972 | Environmental Protection Agency revoked the use of DDT on all food sources in the United States. The World Health Organization, however, still reserves the right to use DDT on particularly virulent outbreaks of malaria. |
| 1973–1989 | Herbicidal sulfonylureas, neonicotinoids, glyphosate, synthetic fungicides such as metaxyl and triadimefron, and light-stable pyrethroid pesticides are introduced |
| 1990–1999 | Integrated pest management, intensified research on biological pest control methods and other alternatives to pesticides |
| 2000–2009 | Widespread usage of IPM techniques in organic farming excluding the usage of synthetic pesticides. |
| 2010–2015 | Involvement of genetic engineering and biotechnological methods to control the usage of pesticides eg. Baculoviruses |
| 2016–2022 | Acetamiprid, Allethrin, Bendiocarb, Bifenthrin, Carbaryl, Cyphenothrin, Difenconazole, D-trans Allethrin, Fipronil, Imidachloprid, Limda-cyahalothrin, Profenofos, Thiamethoxam, Dodine, Hexaconazole, Propineb, Thiophanate-Methyle, Tricyclazole, Metribuzin, Oxyfluorfen, Bromadiolone, etc. |