Insects, Experts, and the Insecticide Crisis The Quest for New Pest
Science and technology are cultural phenomena. Expert knowledge is generated amid the conflicts of a society and in turn supplies fuel to fire yet further change and new clashes. This essay on economic entomology is a case study on how cultural events and
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Insects, Experts, and the Insecticide Crisis THE QUEST FOR NEW PEST MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
John H. Perkins The Evergreen Stale College Olympia, Washington
PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON
Library of Congress Catalogihg in Publication Data Perkins, John H. Insects, experts, and the insecticide crisis. Bibliography: p Includes index. 1. Insect control-United States-History. 2. Insecticides-United States-History. 3. Insects, Injurious and beneficial-Research-United States-History. 4. Entomol· ogists-United States-History. 5. Entomology-United States-History. I. Title. SB934.P47 363.7'3 81·22658 ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-4000-3 DOl: 10.lO07 /978-1-4684-3998-4
e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-3998-4
AACR2
Warning: Mention of any insecticide or any other method of insect control in this book does not constitute a recommendation for use.
© 1982 Plenum Press, New York Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1982 A Divison of Plenum Publishing Corporation 233 Spring-Street, new York, N.Y. 10013 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical. photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from tqe Publisher
Preface
Science and technology are cultural phenomena. Expert knowledge is generated amid the conflicts of a society and in turn supplies fuel to fire yet further change and new clashes. This essay on economic entomology is a case study on how cultural events and forces affected the creation of scientific and technical knowledge. The time period emphasized is 1945 to 1980. My initial premises for selecting relevant data for the story were ultimately not of much use. Virtually all debates about insect control since 1945 have been centered around the environmental and health hazards associated with insecticides. My first but inadequate conclusion was that the center of interest lay between those who defended the chemicals and those who advocated the use of nonchemical control methods. With this formulation of the problem, I was drawn to an analysis of how the chemical manufacturers had managed to dominate and even corrupt the work of entomological scientists, farmers, members of Congress, and regulators in the USDA and EPA. My own contributions to a policy study at the National Academy of Sciences were based on this premise. 1 More recently, Robert van den Bosch developed the "corruption theme" in considerable detail. 2 After I left the National Academy of Sciences in 1974, I began to reformulate my thoughts about the economic entomologists to answer a question that had continually baffled me: Why did those entomologists most responsible for moving insect control toward less reliance on chemicals have such vastly different opinions about the research needs for their science? If the central problem were one of developing nonchemical control methods and removing the chemical industry from its preemiv
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PREFACE
nent role in shaping insect control practices, these disagreements h
