You can almost imagine the dawn of pesticides: "hey look, when I put this on, the bugs die."
It was a great thing... until people noticed the unintended effects. Substances that poison one living thing can poison others.
Recent years have seen the rise of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), an approach to pest control that does not rule out pesticides, but does not place them at the center of control either.
IPM is well known at Oregon State University's Integrated Plant Protection Center, where Paul Jepson is the director. He visits The Exchange with a lesson in IPM and the doings of the IPPC.