The indiscriminate spraying of pesticides has probably caused as
many problems as it has solved, but here's one that was not
expected: some bacteria have decided that one insecticide is a
very tasty meal. Unfortunately for us, one of the strains of
bacteria that has evolved the ability to digest the toxin
happens to be able to find a home in an insect's gut. When it
does so, it provides the insect with resistance. Several factors
had to come together for this to take place, but one was the
heavy use of fenitrothion, which is described as "one of the
most popular organophosphorus insecticides used worldwide" by
the authors of a study of these insects. It has apparently been
so widely deployed that a variety of bacteria have evolved the
ability to use it as a food source. Most of these simply inhabit
the soil in the fields where it is used and, at worst, cut down
on the level of insecticide present and thereby make life a bit
easier for the insects. One of the bacterial species,
Burkholderia has a rather unusua