ENVS 3020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Genetically Modified Crops, Glyphosate, Herbicide

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Environmental Sciences
• Course: ENVS 3020
• Professor: Ryan Prosser

Document Summary

In this unit the development of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides will be explored. The earliest pesticides were quite toxic to most life forms and included inorganic substances such as elemental sulfur and arsenic and were persistent in the environment. By the 17th century botanical pesticides, including nicotine from tobacco leaves, were being used to control insects and although these were more selective, they were not as effective in agricultural settings. The successful introduction of the synthetic organic insecticide ddt and its extensive adoption and use for a wide spectrum of pests beginning in the. 1940"s led to the development of many more synthetic pesticides, including the selective herbicide, 2,4- Currently, synthetic organic compounds are the most widely used category of pesticides. There is increasing use of biopesticides, which includes microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria and plants that have been genetically modified to produce pesticidal substances.