Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy merge forming Novartis
Novartis forms and was one of the largest mergers in history at the time. View Source
First Dirty Dozen List from Environmental Working Group (EWG)
EWG lists conventional grown produce with highest pesticide residues based on US government food monitoring results from USDA PDP and FDA data to inform consumers on pesticide exposure in US food supply. USDA's statements do not support EWG's interpretation to…
Neonicotinoid insecticides are introduced
The neonics are a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine. Shell (in the 1980s) and Bayer (in the 1990s) started work on their development. The neonicotinoid family includes acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, nitenpyram, nithiazine, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam. Imidacloprid was…
First sulfonyl urea discovered by George Levitt of DuPont
A broad class of herbicides invented which dramatically reduced the amounts of pesticides applied. Source: https://www.stanfordchem.com/what-are-sulfonylureas-herbicides.html
Ciba-Geigy formed
Ciba and Geigy merge to form Ciba-Geigy. Source: A History of the International Chemical Industry, by Fred Aftalion
About 70% of US farms used commercial fertilizer on crops, about 29M tons in total
The use of commercial fertilizer increased rapidly after WWII and the commercialization of the Haber-Bosch Process for producing nitrogen fertilizer. View Source