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SUMMARY:The Anthropocene seen by the Anopheles: fighting malarial mosquito
 es with chemicals in modern China\, 1910s–1960s - Shen Yubin (Georgetown
  University)
DTSTART:20170309T130000Z
DTEND:20170309T140000Z
UID:TALK70403@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Richard Staley
DESCRIPTION:What could the human malaria-vector Anopheles mosquito tell us
  about the Anthropocene in China? This paper intends to approach the Anthr
 opocene in China by examining the origin\, development and aftermath of ma
 larial mosquito controls with chemical pesticides from the 1910s to 1960s.
  With the spread of germ theory and medical entomology from the West in th
 e 1910s\, mosquitoes were transformed from annoying but insignificant bloo
 d suckers to dangerous and must-be eliminated disease-carriers. Certain we
 stern chemical pesticides were also imported to supplement traditional Chi
 nese measures and organic insecticides. In the Nanjing decade (1928–1937
 ) and the wartime period (1937–1945)\, several major chemical pesticides
  were experimented with in government-led campaigns against Anopheles mosq
 uitoes and malaria as part of state medicine and national defense. But it 
 was only after 1945\, with the introduction of effective DDT (dichlorodiph
 enyltrichloroethane)\, that chemical pesticides began to dominate in mosqu
 ito controls. These chemicals were widely used in health campaigns in PR C
 hina during the 1950s and 1960s. I will argue the massive usage of chemica
 l pesticides is a useful indicator of the coming of the Anthropocene in Ch
 ina: it not only drastically reduced the distribution and population densi
 ty of the Anopheles\, but also released toxic substances into the environm
 ent: for example\, DDT residues can still be found in fishes in certain lo
 cations. In short\, this paper supports the view that the Anthropocene in 
 China began about 1950.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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