"They should not be called 'insecticides,' but 'biocides.'"
~ Rachel Carson
DDT AND OTHER PESTICIDES
"Organic pesticides are simply those compounds which contain carbon and synthetic organic pesticides are compounds which have been synthesized by the chemists in the laboratory."
~ Dr. Robert White-Stevens
Pesticides are substances for getting rid of pests. Originally, plants and organic chemicals like sodium chlorate were used to control insects. During the mid-1900s, however, many synthetic pesticides were invented, like DDT, aldrin, parathion, etc.
Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane (DDT) is a chemical discovered by Othmar Zeidler in 1874. In 1936, it was synthesized as a pesticide by Paul Herman Müller, who won the Nobel Prize for the discovery.
Usage
Twenty years before Silent Spring, typhus was a deadly disease that killed many soldiers in World War 2. Soldiers were sprayed with DDT, and typhus was almost eradicated. Similarly, DDT helped stop the spread of malaria by mosquitoes. This led America to use pesticides more.
An American soldier demonstrating the spraying of DDT on a military soldier, 1973, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Excerpt from War Department training film "DDT in the control of household insects," 1947, National Library of Medicine
DDT was used agriculturally and domestically. The government sprayed public spaces to get rid of insects in general.
"Surplus airplanes after World War 2 made aerial spraying a popular way to apply pesticides to crops and forests in massive quantities- but the impact on human bystanders and wildlife led to early protests against government pest control."
~ Alex Macgillivray, Understanding Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
"Protect Your Children Against Disease-Carrying Insects!" Women's Day magazine advertisement for Trimz DDT wallpaper, 1947, Science History Institute
"DDT is Good for Me-e-e!" Time Magazine advertisement for Pennsalt DDT products, 1947, Science History Institute
DDT truck spraying DDT at Jones Beach in New York, 1945, National Audubon Society
DDT spraying for Western spruce budworm control project in Oregon, 1955, USDA Forest Service