BIOLOGICAL 
ONTROLS 
ROBERT VAN DEN BOSCH 
Chairman, Division of Biological Control 
Agricultural Experiment Station 
University of California at Berkeley 
WHAT’s to be done about today’s 
insecticide crisis? In our war 
against pest insects, this country 
is currently producing approxi- 
mately 240,000 tons of synthetic 
organic insecticides per year val- 
ued at more than $300 million. 
Yet there are more pest insects 
than ever before, scores of species 
have developed resistance to in- 
secticides, insect control costs 
have spiraled, and the biosphere is 
being polluted with insecticide 
contaminants. 
DDT, hailed for years as a life- 
saver and foodsaver, is currently 
under such strong attack that it 
may be banned nationwide. The 
use of other persistent insecticides 
is also being fought by environ- 
mentalists as evidence of the 
harmful effects mounts. 
But if we suddenly stop using 
the insecticides we’ve grown so 
dependent on in the past 25 years, 
many people ask, what’s to take 
their place? 
Biological vs Chemical Control 
To attempt an answer, we must 
first understand two of the basic 
ways of controlling pest insects. 
One is by use of chemical agents 
such as DDT and malathion. The 
other is by biological control — 
about which the general public 
knows little though it has been in 
operation since time began. 
The two are distinctly different 
phenomena. Biological control in- 
volves long-term species popula- 
tion regulation. Chemical control 
attempts temporary decimation of 
localized populations of pest in- 
sects. A major cause of today’s 
dilemma about insect control is 
that this fundamental difference 
is either not understood or ignored 
by the people concerned with 
pesticide development and use. 
Thus we have, as our main arti- 
ficial tool for insect control, eco- 
logically dangerous pesticides syn- 
thesized at the behest of chemical 
company management. And sales- 
manship, perhaps more than need, 
is the motivating factor in much 
of the use of these materials. 
Reprinted by permission of CATALYST For 
Environmental Quality (274 Madison Ave., 
N.Y., N.Y. 10016). 
