New Insecticide?

In the holds of freighters from South American ports that put into Genoa about 13 years ago were some unlisted travelers --small tropical ants named Iridomyrmex humilis. Spreading rapidly from their beachhead, the tiny invaders took on the heftiest ants of Italy, annihilated them by the colony. Putting them under the microscope, University of Pavia's Zoologist Mario Pavan got to their secret: a sac of grey, waxy poison in the anal gland.

Pavan called his discovery Iridomyrmecin. By 1948 he had reduced it to its pure crystalline form, reported that Iridomyrmecin was deadly to many insects but harmless to man. It showed signs of being highly effective against the germs producing typhus, cholera and tuberculosis.

Researchers have been looking for an insecticide that would supplement or even replace DDT. There has been evidence that DDT is sometimes absorbed by plants and ends up in human tissues. Also, some insects have developed immunity to it. With Pa van's discovery, researchers in the U.S., Britain, Italy and Germany went to work. Last week a three-man team headed by Bonn University Chemistry Professor Friedhelm Korte, who also runs a Shell oil company laboratory in suburban Bonn, announced it had at last synthesized Iridomyrmecin. Cautioned a Shell spokesman: "We cannot say how much the new stuff will cost and when it will be marketed, because we do not know ourselves."

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