Pyrethrum and the Second World War
Recontextualising DDT in the Narrative of Wartime Insect Control
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12865762 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sabine Clarke (0000-0001-6268-8830, University of York, corresponding author), Richard Brown (0000-0002-3150-6958, University of York) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 89-112 |
| Publication date | 2022-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | HoST - Journal of History of Science and Technology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1646-7752 • E-ISSN: 1646-7752 |
| Publisher | De Gruyter (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.2478/host-2022-0017 |
| OpenAlex | W4313415869 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 2 |
Historians have long recognised that DDT’s fame began with extraordinary propaganda late in the Second World War, yet heroic narratives that centre the chemical still shape historical understanding. Two false assumptions inform much of the existing scholarship on wartime insect control: one is that without DDT the Allies had no protection from malaria and typhus; the other is that DDT was significantly more toxic than any alternative insecticide available. This paper tells a very different story of wartime insecticides. We recontextualise DDT in the wider wartime technological landscape and in so doing show the enduring significance of the natural insecticide, pyrethrum. DDT was never solely responsible for protecting troops and civilians from malaria and typhus and its deployment did not render all existing insecticides obsolete. Claims about the significance of DDT often work by writing out the existence of alternative methods of controlling vectors or by downplaying the efficacy of existing materials and practices
Art · Biology · Environmental ethics · Literature · Narrative · Pesticide · Political science · Pyrethrum · Scholarship · Typhus · Animal and Plant Science Education · Historical and Scientific Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Philosophy · Ecology · Toxicology
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2024 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |