Insecticide

Ten Eastern Airlines crew members were briefly treated at local hospitals yesterday after being sickened by insecticide fumes in a plane preparing for takeoff from Philadelphia International Airport, Eastern officials said. Thirteen crew members were aboard the L-1011 jet about an hour before its scheduled takeoff at 10:45 a.m. The sickened crew members - nine flight attendants and a co-pilot - apparently smelled an odor before Flight 871 was due to depart for Orlando, Fla., said Robin Matell, vice president of corporate affairs at Eastern.

Rohm & Haas Co. said yesterday that it would sell patents and other rights for a new insecticide to Shell Research Ltd. Shell Research, a company of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, will manufacture the compound, develop it and market it throughout the world except in the United States. Rohm & Haas, the Philadelphia chemical company, will retain the exclusive license to register and market it in this country. The compound, which will be used against aphids, may be available for commercial sale in Europe in 1994, according to Shell.

Two low-flying planes sprayed an insecticide used to kill gypsy moths on an estimated 200 unsuspecting Washington Township schoolchildren yesterday morning as they waited for school buses. New Jersey Department of Agriculture officials said the children, ages 6 through 18, were in no danger from the spraying of bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a bacterium that attacks the digestive tract of gypsy moths. He said, however, it may cause hives in some people. A group of students accidentally was sprayed last year as well in the Gloucester County township, and officials this year had been determined to prevent a recurrence.

Philadelphia chemical company FMC Corp. said yesterday that it would sell its insecticides research pipeline to a subsidiary of Bayer AG and exit insecticide-discovery research. The agreement allows Bayer CropScience, of Monheim, Germany, to discover and commercialize new compounds to control insect damage in crops from FMC's research. CropScience will buy early-stage compounds that show promise and FMC's chemical library, FMC spokesman Jim Fitzwater said. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Those are the nicer words people use to describe the growing numbers of stinkbugs that have munched their way across many fields and orchards of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Now the shield-shaped pest, known for emitting a pungent odor when disturbed, is ready to bed down for the winter - in the walls and insulation of homes. "We're expecting an epic year for stinkbugs," said research entomologist Richard Cooper. "I'm just concerned that this won't be big news until it's too late for people.

One helicopter lifts another from the Delaware River, the scene of a crash Thursday in Tinicum Township, Bucks County. The wrecked copter had been on an insecticide mission when it plummeted.

Tredyffrin supervisors are moving ahead with plans to buy space for additional public parking in the crowded Paoli business district. The board voted 5-0 on Monday evening to accept appraisals totaling $141,600 for two lots on the south side of Lancaster Avenue between Darby and S. Valley Roads. The appraisals, done by Luther L. Rife of West Chester, will be sent to the Chester County Redevelopment Authority. The authority will make the purchases and pave the area for the 30 to 40 parking spaces.

Aiming to reassure tourists, Vietnam has set up a medical-assistance program that includes 24-hour hotlines and the promise of treatment and even evacuation for emergencies that cannot be handled within the country. The program took effect Jan. 1. The country's SOS Tourist Program is free to visitors holding a tourist visa and traveling as part of a tour group. Each arriving tourist gets a card listing phone numbers for "alarm centers" in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as in Singapore, where International SOS Assistance, the company that developed the program for Vietnam tourism officials, has its Southeast Asia headquarters.

It's not often that a totally new pesticide comes down the horticultural pike. But neem is making news, and there are plenty of reasons for gardeners to take notice. Neem is a botanical insecticide extracted from the seeds of a subtropical Asian evergreen. Both organic and conventional gardeners are enthusiastic about neem's potential to manage pests. Neem is probably as close to the ideal insecticide as any on the market. Neem-based products are environmentally friendly, generally considered non- toxic to mammals and soft on beneficial insects.

During a Borough Council caucus meeting last night, Gibbsboro officials discussed a new concept in municipal employee salaries - an end-of-year bonus. Councilman Edward Campbell proposed that the council consider a merit bonus for deserving employees as well as a flat-rate increase that all employess will receive. The council has not introduced a salary ordinance for 1987, but members expected about a 3.5 percent increase in salaries when they prepared the municipal budget, said Councilman George Miller.

Those are the nicer words people use to describe the growing numbers of stinkbugs that have munched their way across many fields and orchards of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Now the shield-shaped pest, known for emitting a pungent odor when disturbed, is ready to bed down for the winter - in the walls and insulation of homes. "We're expecting an epic year for stinkbugs," said research entomologist Richard Cooper. "I'm just concerned that this won't be big news until it's too late for people.

Philadelphia chemical company FMC Corp. said yesterday that it would sell its insecticides research pipeline to a subsidiary of Bayer AG and exit insecticide-discovery research. The agreement allows Bayer CropScience, of Monheim, Germany, to discover and commercialize new compounds to control insect damage in crops from FMC's research. CropScience will buy early-stage compounds that show promise and FMC's chemical library, FMC spokesman Jim Fitzwater said. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

We think of our homes as castles, fortified against the world with wood, windows, locks, alarm systems. Despite all our precautions, though, sometimes intruders break in. There was that bird, as wild-eyed and terrified as I was. There was the mouse that met a sad fate in our basement. Then there were those two squirrels that, several years apart, shimmied down the chimney. We handled each of these intrusions largely by ourselves. Nothing, however, prepared us for the latest onslaught - an army of yellow jackets.

Malaria was pretty much under control in KwaZulu-Natal province five years ago. So health officials thought it was safe to stop using DDT, the notorious insecticide banned in most of the developed world. Almost immediately, this semitropical region along the Indian Ocean saw a dramatic increase in the number of cases of malaria, which is transmitted by mosquitoes. There are now nearly 10 times as many cases as in 1995. There were no malaria deaths five years ago. This year, the disease has killed more than 300 people in the province.

The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday banned a highly toxic pesticide long used on fruits and vegetables and significantly reduced the use of another. The moves were quickly attacked by farmers and environmentalists. Banned was methyl parathion, considered one of the most potent pesticides in its class. It will no longer be legal to use on produce, including apples, peaches, grapes, cherries, pears, carrots, certain peas, certain beans, and tomatoes. The agency also ordered a reduction in the use of azinphos methyl, another "organophosphate" that it believes is potentially dangerous.

One helicopter lifts another from the Delaware River, the scene of a crash Thursday in Tinicum Township, Bucks County. The wrecked copter had been on an insecticide mission when it plummeted.

They're in the cotton fields right now, voraciously gobbling what could have been your next sweater or pair of jeans. They're crawling in the corn and wiggling amid the walnuts, too. Now, they face a new foe: Two Montgomery County scientists with an innovative method of killing lepidoptera, or the caterpillar. During a Capitol Hill ceremony this evening, the pair, Harold E. Aller and Adam C. Hsu of Philadelphia's Rohm & Haas Co., will receive National Inventor of the Year honors for discovering a new class of insecticides that are more environmentally friendly.

It's not often that a totally new pesticide comes down the horticultural pike. But neem is making news, and there are plenty of reasons for gardeners to take notice. Neem is a botanical insecticide extracted from the seeds of a subtropical Asian evergreen. Both organic and conventional gardeners are enthusiastic about neem's potential to manage pests. Neem is probably as close to the ideal insecticide as any on the market. Neem-based products are environmentally friendly, generally considered non- toxic to mammals and soft on beneficial insects.

Aiming to reassure tourists, Vietnam has set up a medical-assistance program that includes 24-hour hotlines and the promise of treatment and even evacuation for emergencies that cannot be handled within the country. The program took effect Jan. 1. The country's SOS Tourist Program is free to visitors holding a tourist visa and traveling as part of a tour group. Each arriving tourist gets a card listing phone numbers for "alarm centers" in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as in Singapore, where International SOS Assistance, the company that developed the program for Vietnam tourism officials, has its Southeast Asia headquarters.

At the T&F Sorbello Farm, they do not, of course, just sink plants into the ground and wait for them to produce fruit. They cultivate, irrigate and fertilize. And they spray. Like nearly all big vegetable growers, brothers Tom and Frank Sorbello - partners at 600-acre T&F Sorbello in Gloucester County - consider the spraying of pesticides an essential part of farming. And the thing they do that's least understood by the nonfarming public. "The people we sell to, the brokers, they want stuff perfect," says Tom, 56, the older of the brothers.