predicament that we find ourselves in today 
is simply this: 
We cannot live without pesticides in this 
intensely developed manmade society of ours. 
We could not maintain our agriculture, our 
health, or our present high levels of comfort 
and living. But, we are finding it increasingly 
difficult to live with pesticides. 
No thoughtful person today seriously ques- 
tions the need for pest control in order to 
maintain a healthy and progressive society. 
But beyond that, there is a vast amount of 
public confusion and misunderstanding and 
even apprehension concerning the aims, tech- 
niques, hazards, and even the benefits of pest 
control. 
I suspect that most people, for example, are 
not aware of the extent of environmental con- 
trol that is exercised by an orderly society. 
The better developed nations routinely and 
continuously modify, adapt, and contain their 
environments to their own living... and the 
measure of their success is the measure of 
their development. 
I am always amused, and sometimes ap- 
palled, at the suggestions made by well- 
meaning and supposedly knowledgeable bio- 
logical scientists that we must have as a 
first objective in pest-control programs the 
maintaining of a so-called "biological balance" 
in nature. I know of no highly developed nation 
at the present time or in the past wherein 
this biological balance has not been tipped 
in favor of man and of the plants and animals 
he consumes. 
If man is to enjoy a level of living compar- 
able to that we in developed nations enjoy, he 
must modify his environment to favor himself. 
He must use nature's tendency to bring about 
balance among organisms whenever it helps 
him control pests. He must combat this 
tendency when it works against pest control. 
Many people are not aware of the extraor- 
dinary contributions of pest control to the 
agricultural revolution that has taken place in 
North America...a revolution that has 
brought forth such a tremendous abundance of 
food... a revolution that other less developed 
nations are earnestly striving to bring about 
in their own lands. 
One need not be a historian or a scientist to 
recognize that lack of pest control has been 
60 
and still is a serious drawback to national 
development in many parts of the world. 
And I am sure that very few people are 
aware of the concern of the U.S. Department 
of Agriculture and its partners in the States 
for safety in using pesticides. The fact is we 
do everything we can to insure that pest- 
control measures are used safely, with mini- 
mum hazard to man and animals and the 
environment. We are, after all, dealing with 
mechanisms that can affect forms of life 
other than the ones we are trying to destroy. 
Safety always has been--and always will be-- 
a major consideration in the development and 
use of pest-control measures. 
Let's turn and look at how far we have come 
in terms of pest-control measures that are 
in use today...and those that are on the 
horizon. 
Chemical pesticides are still essential to 
American agriculture and will be for some 
time. Industry and State and Federal agencies 
have developed dozens of effective pesticides 
along with good application techniques and 
equipment. There are very few pests thatcan- 
not be controlled by some kind of chemical 
compound, We should not for one moment give 
the impression that, because of some problems 
associated with their use, we are abandoning 
pesticides. Because they are effective and 
relatively inexpensive, we shall continue to 
depend on these most important chemicals to 
help us provide an abundance of high-quality 
food at the lowest prices ever known, when 
measured in terms of the only true cost, how 
long we have to work to pay for it. 
Today, however, the emphasis of your pro- 
gram is on approaches that do not involve 
pesticides. There are many of these ap- 
proaches... they are varied...some are 
old and are being looked at again in the light 
of new information. . . some are new andhave 
unusual interest and merit. May I use as my 
primary examples, nonpesticidal methods of 
controlling insects. Similar examples could 
be cited for control of weeds and plant and 
animal diseases. 
A whole new concept of insect control has 
opened up with the development and use of the 
sterile male technique. This method was used 
a few years ago to rid the southeastern part 
of the United States of the screw-worm, a 
te 
