Rudd & Genelly 1954 noticed that bird pests seemed uninterested in treated seeds, specifically pheasants and blackbirds around Davis, CA, US. They tested its repellent effect on pheasants and found it effective, speculating that it may be usable as a general bird repellent. Preparation
Lindane is prepared by treating chlorine with benzene in the presence of sunlight and in the absence of oxygen as well as substitution catalysts. Human health effects
The EPA and WHO both classify lindane as "moderately" acutely toxic. It has an oral LD50 of 88 mg/kg in rats and a dermal LD50 of 1000 mg/kg. Most of the adverse human health effects reported for lindane have been related to agricultural uses and chronic, occupational exposure of seed-treatment workers.Exposure to large amounts of lindane can harm the nervous system, producing a range of symptoms from headache and dizziness to seizures, convulsions, and more rarely, death. Lindane has not been shown to affect the immune system in humans, and it is not considered to be genotoxic. Prenatal exposure to β-HCH, an isomer of lindane and production byproduct, has been associated with altered thyroid hormone levels and could affect brain development.The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have set occupational exposure limits (permissible exposure and recommended exposure, respectively) for lindane at 0.5 mg/m3 at a time-weighted average of eight hours for skin exposure. People can be exposed to lindane in the workplace by inhaling it, absorbing it through their skin, swallowing it, and eye contact.
Lindane, also known as gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane (γ-HCH), gammaxene, Gammallin and benzene hexachloride (BHC), is an organochlorine chemical and an isomer of hexachlorocyclohexane that has been used both as an agricultural insecticide and as a pharmaceutical treatment for lice and scabies.Lindane is a neurotoxin that interferes with GABA neurotransmitter function by interacting with the GABAA receptor-chloride channel complex at the picrotoxin binding site. In humans, lindane affects the nervous system, liver, and kidneys, and may well be a carcinogen. Whether lindane is an endocrine disruptor is unclear.The World Health Organization classifies lindane as "moderately hazardous", and its international trade is restricted and regulated under the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent. In 2009, the production and agricultural use of lindane was banned under the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants. A specific exemption to that ban allows it to continue to be used as a second-line pharmaceutical treatment for lice and scabies. History and use
The chemical was originally synthesized in 1825 by Faraday. It is named after the Dutch chemist Teunis van der Linden (1884–1965), the first to isolate and describe γ-hexachlorcyclohexane in 1912. The fact that mixtures of isomers of hexachlorocyclohexane have insecticidal activity is a case of multiple discovery. Work in the 1930s at the Jealotts Hill laboratories of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (ICI) led in 1942 to the realization that the γ isomer was the key active component in the mixture which had hitherto been tested.