First and Second Generation Pesticides

First Generation Pesticides:

First generation pesticides are the pesticides that people used originally when they began looking for ways to protect their crops. These pesticides were mostly natural substances, such as chemicals that were borrowed from plants that had been fighting off insects for ages. 1st generation pesticides were mostly inorganic compounds (minerals) or Botanicals.

Some examples of these inorganic compounds are:

-sulfur, which has been used as an insecticide since before 500 BC. And starting in the 1400s:

-mercury

-arsenic

-lead

Examples of Botanicals are:

-Nicotene, which started to be used as an insecticide in the 1600s by extracting it out of tobacco leaves

-Pyrethrum, which is obtained from the heads of chrysanthemum flowers and came about in the mid 1800s

- Rotenone, which comes from the roots of various tropical forest legumes and also came about in the mid 1800s

Second Generation Pesticides:
Second generation pesticides are the pesticides that came about later on, around the time of the major pest control revolution which began in 1939. Most of these pesticides are synthetic. The pesticides used today are 10 time as toxic as the ones used in 1950, and its use has increases greatly. Some example are:

 - DDT, which was the first of the 2nd generation pesticides

- Carbaryl

- Fipronil

- Imidacloprid