Search results for "History of knowledge"
showing 6 items of 6 documents
Syntheticising Scandinavia: The Introduction of Synthetic Pesticides to Scandinavian Gardens, 1945-1952
2020
Abstract This study examines the introduction of prescriptive pesticide technologies into Scandinavian family gardens. It analyses pesticide propaganda and plant protection experts’ advice and instructions on the use of pesticides directed at amateur, home gardeners in Norway, Sweden and Denmark in the years between 1945 and 1952, the period when the new generation of synthetic pesticides was introduced in Scandinavia, and eagerly advocated by the leading experts of plant protection science. The sources investigated are gardening magazines and their special issues on garden instruction and the use of chemicals through the seasons, edited, published and distributed to a wide readership by na…
Arsenical Pesticides in Early Francoist Spain: Fascism, Autarky, Agricultural Engineers and the Invisibility of Toxic Risks
2019
Abstract Lead arsenate was introduced on a massive scale in agriculture in Spain in the early 1940s. With the support of a network of agricultural engineers, the new Francoist state encouraged the production and use of lead arsenate as the main weapon against a newly arrived pest, the Colorado potato beetle. In this paper I discuss arsenical pesticides as sociotechnological products which played a pivotal role in the joint production of both chemical-based agriculture and the emerging Francoist regime in Spain during the 1940s. I review the campaigns organized by agriculture engineers and the making of the new National Register for Phytosanitary Products in 1942. The new regulations promote…
Following Hydrogen Cyanide in the Valencian Country (1907-1933): Risk, Accidents and Standards in Fumigation
2019
Abstract Pests had represented a major problem in agriculture for centuries, but the huge changes in the food chain around the late nineteenth century intensified their effects in a totally unprecedented way and many new chemical substances were introduced in the attempt to control them. In this paper I will focus on the implementation of hydrogen cyanide, a highly toxic pesticide which has not received particular consideration from researchers to date. I shall analyse the introduction of this pesticide in the Valencian Country and focus on the attention given to the safety of workers and consumers. I aim to examine the role of the poison in its different uses and analyse the impact of each…
Introduction. Pesticides: Past and Present
2019
Book Review: Lukas Engelmann and Christos Lynteris. Sulphuric Utopias: A History of Maritime Fumigation
2020
Influencing for Results: Bees, Beekeepers and Norwegian Pesticide Legislation
2019
Abstract Many who are worried about the disappearance of pollinating insects, question the role of pesticides and point to the need for stricter legislation regulating the use of these chemicals. This article studies the years between 1933 and 1953, when legislation regulating the use of pesticides against insects and weeds was established in Norway. It analyses how knowledge about effects of pesticides circulated from Norwegian honeybees, to their beekeepers and their network. It suggests that the actors’ position and standing influenced what knowledge they put into circulation and what knowledge they suppressed. A knowledge hierarchy meant that some actors were powerful enough to influenc…