Abstract
More than 25 years of research on the optimization of pyrethroids for high insecticidal activity has culminated in the discovery of the most potent pyrethroid, namely ( S)- α-cyano-3-phenoxybenzyl- cis-[1 R,3 R]-3-(2,2-dibromovinyl)-2,2-dimethyl-cyclopropanecarboxylate (decamethrin) (Elliott, 1977; Elliott et al., 1974). This compound is currently under development for control of insect pests of crops, livestock and man (Ruzo et al., 1978). Decamethrin is an ester, 10–100 times more light stable than previous pyrethroids. It exhibits low mammalian toxicity, while being toxic to aquatic wildlife and bees (Elliott, 1973, 1974; Bainova, 1981). Treatment of male mice with decamethrin had no effect on the rate of pre- or post-implantation losses in the dominant lethal test (Vannier et al., 1977). Decamethrin is also negative for mutagenic activity in the Salmonella-microsome test system (Fouillet, 1980). The present paper presents the results of tests on the potential clastogenic activity of decamethrin. Frequencies of induced chromosomal aberrations in bone-marrow cells of mice treated with single and repeated peroral doses of decamethrin were studied.
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