为了控制害虫，人们不停地大肆使用人工合成的化学药物，而事实证明，这一行为适得其反，给农作物和人类健康带来了威胁。除了造成大规模的生态失调，杀虫剂还催生了一种具有抗药性的新型超级致命病菌。

The continuous and reckless use of synthetic chemicals for the control of pests which pose a threat to agriculture crops and human health is proving to be counter-productive. Apart from engendering widespread ecological disorders, pesticides have contributed to the emergence of a new breed of chemical-resistant, highly lethal superbugs.

联合国粮食及农业组织(FAO)最近的一项研究显示，超过300种的农业害虫已经对多种强效杀虫剂产生了抗药性。更严重的是，在传播疾病的害虫中，约有100种已经对多种正在使用的杀虫剂产生了免疫力。

使用杀虫剂的一个很明显的缺点在于，尽管它能杀掉害虫，但是它也无意中毁掉了许多有用的有机生物，这些生物能够控制害虫数量的增长。这就导致了农业生态学家所说的“跑步机综合征”。人们知道，因为许多害虫都具有强大的繁殖潜力和基因多样性，所以它们能够抵抗各种合成的化学药品，它们生育的后代则拥有与生俱来的抗药性。

According to a recent study by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), more than 300 species of agriculture pests have developed resistance to a wide range of potent chemicals. Not to be left behind are the disease spreading pests, about 100 species of which have become immune to a variety of insecticides now in use.

“跑步机综合征”的巨大破坏力在中美洲棉农的遭遇中得到了展现。20世纪40年代早期，人们正陶醉在以化学药品为基础的密集型农业所带来的繁荣之中。为了确保增产，农民们疯狂地使用农药。在20世纪40年代中期。一年要用8次杀虫剂。到了20世纪50年代中期，由于3种新型抗药害虫的数量突然猛增，用药次数增至一季度28次。

到20世纪60年代中期，情况变得越发令人不安，又出现了4种新害虫，使得喷洒农药的费用占到了棉花生产赞用的50％。20世纪70年代初，拥有更强基因的害虫继续入侵农田，农民被逼到了绝境，农药喷洒作业频繁到了一季度70次。

One glaring disadvantage of pesticides` application is that, while destroying harmful pests, they also wipe out many non-targeted useful organisms, which keep the growth of the pest population in check. This result in what the agroecologists call the `treadmill syndrome`. Because of their tremendous breading potential and genetic diversity, many pests are known to withstand synthetic chemicals and bear offspring with a built-in resistance to pesticides.

美国环保机构的一项研究显示，当今市场上的大部分农药的致癌性、引发基因突变的特性和其他危害健康的性质仍未经过足够的检测。美国国家资源保护委员会发现，在一长串投入使用的危险化学药品当中，DDT(过去常用的一种无色农药)的应用最为广泛。

滥用农药所带来的危害日益加剧。面对这种情况，一种更加行之有效而健全的生态策略，即生物防虫法，就越来越受欢迎。这种策略主要是有选择性地使用害虫的天敌。尽管迄今为止，这一新领域潜力有限，但是受欢迎程度还是与日俱增。与其他方法棚比，其优势在于它拥有相对低廉的成本、永久的控制系统和程度最低的毒剐作用。经过专家处理，生物防虫法是安全无污染的，且昆虫能够自行消散。

The havoc that the `treadmill syndrome` can bring about is well illustrated by what happened to cotton farmers in Central America. In the early 1940s, basking in the glory of chemical-based agriculture, the farmers avidly took to pesticides as a sure measure to boost crops yield. The insecticide was applied eight times a year in the mid-1940s, rising to 28 in a season in the mid-1950s, following the sudden proliferation of three new varieties of chemical-resistant pests.

位于班加罗尔的英联邦生物防治研究所(CIBC)是从事害虫的生物防治研究工作最活跃的非营利性研究机构之一，拥有遍布全球的研究实验室和野外站，它致力于研究通过投放寄生虫的天敌来实施生物控制。同时，它也是一个全球性的虫害防治生物制剂进出口信息交换机构。

银胶菊曾经严重影响印度和澳大利亚的农业和人类健康。CIBC引入了一种专吃银胶菊种子的墨西哥象鼻虫。并成功地控制住了这种令人讨厌的银胶菊的蔓延。无独有偶，一种水葫芦给世界上许多地方的人们都造成了困扰和麻烦。鉴于此。受CIBC资助的位于海得拉巴的区域研究实验室(RRL)正在试验用一种阿根廷象鼻虫消灭这种危险的杂草。据RRL的Kaiser Jamil女士透露：“阿根廷象鼻虫不会咬噬其他植物。一对成年的虫子在4～5天之内就能将这种杂草消灭掉。”现在，CIBC正在完善一项繁殖寄生虫的技术来对付一种disapene scale昆虫，这种害虫在美国和印度是臭名昭著的果树脱叶剂。

By the mid-1960s, the situation took an alarming turn with the outbreak of four more new pests, necessitating pesticide spraying to such an extent that 50% of the financial outlay on cotton production was accounted for by pesticides. In the early 1970s, the spraying frequently reached 70 times a season as the farmers were pushed to the wall by the invasion of genetically stronger insect species.

以下是一些有效实施生物防虫法的案例。20世纪60年代末期，斯里兰卡繁茂的椰子树林遭到了吞噬叶子的hispides的侵害，结果这种害虫被一种引自新加坡的寄生虫幼虫成功地控制住了。在印度，当地一种名叫Neodumetia sangawani的天敌昆虫对于控制罗兹岛的草绒蚧非常有效，后者在美国的很多地方大量吞噬饲草。此外，喀拉拉邦农业大学的科学家利用一种叫做布奇水葫芦象甲的巴西甲虫治理了一条12公里长的运河，消灭了大片大片被喀拉拉邦人叫做耳槐叶萍的槐叶萍，在那里约有30，000公顷的稻田都受到了这种杂草的侵害。

Most of the pesticides in the market today remain inadequately tested for properties that cause cancer and mutations as well as for other adverse effects on health, say a study by United States environmental agencies. The United States National Resources Defense Council has found that DDT was the most popular of a long list of dangerous chemicals in use.

In the face of the escalating perils from indiscriminate applications of pesticides, a more effective and ecologically sound strategy of biological control, involving the selective use of natural enemies of the pest population, is fast gaining popularity – though, as yet, it is a new field with limited potential. The advantage of biological control in contrast to other methods is that it provides a relatively low cost, perpetual control system with a minimum of detrimental side-effects. When handled by experts, bio-control is safe, non-polluting and self-dispersing.

The Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control (CIBC) in Bangalore, with its global network of research laboratories and fields stations, is one of the most active, non-chemical research agencies engaged in pest control by setting natural predators for parasites. CIBC also serves as a clearing-house for the export and import of biological agents for pest control world-wide.

CIBC successfully used a seed-feeding weevil, native to Mexico, to control the obnoxious parthenium weed, known to exert devious influence on agriculture and human health in both India and Australia. Similarly the Hyderabad-based Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), supported by CIBC, is now trying out an Argentinian weevil for the eradication of water hyacinth, another dangerous weed, which has become a nuisance in many parts of the world. According to the Mrs. Karser Jamil of RRL, `the Argentinian weevil does not attack any other plant and a pair of adult bugs could destroy the weed in 4-5 days.` CIBC is also perfecting the technique for breeding parasites that prey on `disapene scale` insects – notorious defoliants of fruit trees in the US and India.

How effectively biological control can be pressed into service is proved by the following examples. In the late 1960s, When Sri Lanka`s flourishing coconut groves were plagued by leaf-mining hispides, a larval parasite imported from Singapore brought the pest under control. A natural predator indigenous to India, Neodumetia sangawani, was found useful in controlling the Rhodes grass-scale insect that was devouring forage grass in many parts of the US. By using Neochetina bruci, a beetle native to Brazil, scientists at Kerala Agriculture University freed a 12-kilometre-long canal from the clutches of the weed Salvinia molesta, popularly called `African Payal` in Kerala. About 30,000 hectares of rice fields in Kerala are infested by this weed.