It was introduced in 1950, is an insecticide and acaricide, commonly used in agricultural and residential settings, against mosquitoes, flies, household insects, human head and body lice, animal ticks and fleas, and sucking and chewing insects on fruits and vegetables.
Malathion is a very widely used insecticide of low mammalian toxicity. Historically, malathion have been considered to be safe than organochlorines and other pesticide because of their low environment persistence.
It is considered one of the safest of the organophosphates; it is used extensively by the World Health Organization for malarial control programs and for the control of a recent massive outbreak of locusts in North Africa.
A spray containing 0.5 pound of malathion in 100 gallons of water killed 95 to 100 percent of the beetles on the plants during the application.
Residues of malathion can usually be removed from most edible parts of plants by washing with cold water.
Insecticide of malathion
