Chemical pesticides appear to be essential to American agriculture and probably will be for some time, but chemists, biologists, geneticists, and engineers are probing nonchemical approaches to pest control. At the 131st annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Montreal these possibilities were explored:
Sterilizing male insects;
Using small amounts of chemicals to attract insects to lethal compounds;
Trapping insects that fly long distances with light or sound;
Breeding plants and animals that are resistant to pests and disease;
Developing insect pathogens to control destructive pests.
Insect Disease Organisms
"The potential use of insect disease organisms in controlling a wide range of destructive pests is unusually promising," according to Nyle C. Brady, PhD, director of science and education for the US Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC. Such organisms are already used for a few pests, Brady said. The milky spore