Abstract
DIMETHOATE (O,O - dimethyl S - (N - methylcarbamoylmethyl) phosphorodithioate) is an effective systemic insecticide for use on plants1–3, has shown promise as a chemotherapeutic agent for control of cattle grubs4,5 and certain other insect pests of farm animals, and has high contact toxicity to house-flies and many other insects. The pure material, with a rat oral LD50 of about 600 mgm./kgm., is the least toxic to mammals of the systemic insecticides at present available for use in controlling plant pests. Commercial dimethoate is 2–4 times more toxic to rats than the pure compound, and repeated recrystallization or chromatography is required to achieve the reduced mammalian toxicity of the pure material. Several investigations have been reported on the chemical6 and biological7–9 degradation of dimethoate.
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CASIDA, J., SANDERSON, D. Toxic Hazard from formulating the Insecticide Dimethoate in Methyl ‘Cellosolve’. Nature 189, 507–508 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/189507a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/189507a0
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