The application of pest control ranges from do-it-yourself arrangements to scientific and very precise deployment of chemicals and predatory insects by highly skilled practitioners. Despite the fact that pest control is a world-wide industry it is still dominated by family or 1-person businesses. Those that need to control pests range from householders to large scale agri-conglomerates who need to maximise their yield. In between these two are restaurants, bars, food production facilities, farmers - in fact, anybody that routinely deals with food. Pest control can make us more comfortable - but can also save lives.
The word pest is subjective as one man's pest may be another man's helper. For instance, pest A may be a threat to crop A, and …show more content…
The first recorded instance of pest control takes us back to 2500BC when the Sumerians used sulphur to control insects. Then around 1200BC the Chinese, in their great age of discovery towards the end of the Shang Dynasty, were using chemicals to control insects. The Chinese continued to develop ever more sophisticated chemicals and methods of controlling insects for crops and for people's comfort.
No doubt the spread of pest control know-how was helped by the advanced state of
Chinese writing ability. Although progress in pest control methods undoubtedly continued, the next significant scrap of evidence does not come until around
750BC when Homer described the Greek use of wood ash spread on land as a form of pest control.
Around 500BC the Chinese were using mercury and arsenic compounds as a means to control body lice, a common problem throughout history. In 440BC the Ancient
Egyptian's used fishing nets to cover their beds or their homes at night as a protection from mosquitoes
From 300BC there is evidence of the use of use of predatory insects to control pests, although this method was almost certainly developed before this date. The …show more content…
Certainly in Europe during the dark ages, methods of pest control were just as likely to be based on superstition and local spiritual rituals as any proven method. Pests were often seen as workers of evil - especially those that ruined food, crops or livestock.
Although there were undoubtedly studies of pests during the dark ages, we do not have any recorded evidence of this.
It is not until the European renaissance when more evidence of pest control emerges. In 1758 the great Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus catalogued and named many pests. His writings were (and remain) the root and source of future study into pests (as well as plants and animals generally). At the same time, the agricultural revolution began in Europe and heralded a more widespread application of pest control. With the work of Linnaeus and other scholars and the commercial needs to ensure crops and livestock were protected, pest control became more systemized and spread throughout the world. As global trade increased, new pesticides were discovered.
At this point pest control was carried out by farmers and some
The word pest is subjective as one man's pest may be another man's helper. For instance, pest A may be a threat to crop A, and …show more content…
The first recorded instance of pest control takes us back to 2500BC when the Sumerians used sulphur to control insects. Then around 1200BC the Chinese, in their great age of discovery towards the end of the Shang Dynasty, were using chemicals to control insects. The Chinese continued to develop ever more sophisticated chemicals and methods of controlling insects for crops and for people's comfort.
No doubt the spread of pest control know-how was helped by the advanced state of
Chinese writing ability. Although progress in pest control methods undoubtedly continued, the next significant scrap of evidence does not come until around
750BC when Homer described the Greek use of wood ash spread on land as a form of pest control.
Around 500BC the Chinese were using mercury and arsenic compounds as a means to control body lice, a common problem throughout history. In 440BC the Ancient
Egyptian's used fishing nets to cover their beds or their homes at night as a protection from mosquitoes
From 300BC there is evidence of the use of use of predatory insects to control pests, although this method was almost certainly developed before this date. The …show more content…
Certainly in Europe during the dark ages, methods of pest control were just as likely to be based on superstition and local spiritual rituals as any proven method. Pests were often seen as workers of evil - especially those that ruined food, crops or livestock.
Although there were undoubtedly studies of pests during the dark ages, we do not have any recorded evidence of this.
It is not until the European renaissance when more evidence of pest control emerges. In 1758 the great Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus catalogued and named many pests. His writings were (and remain) the root and source of future study into pests (as well as plants and animals generally). At the same time, the agricultural revolution began in Europe and heralded a more widespread application of pest control. With the work of Linnaeus and other scholars and the commercial needs to ensure crops and livestock were protected, pest control became more systemized and spread throughout the world. As global trade increased, new pesticides were discovered.
At this point pest control was carried out by farmers and some