In 2009, an international ban on the use of lindane in agriculture was implemented under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. A specific exemption allows for it to continue to be used in second-line treatments for the head lice and scabies for five more years. The production of the lindane isomers α- and β-hexachlorocyclohexane was also banned. Although the US has not ratified the Convention, it has similarly banned agricultural uses while still allowing its use as a second-line lice and scabies treatment. United States
In the US, lindane pesticide products were regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while lindane medications are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It was registered as an agricultural insecticide in the 1940s, and as pharmaceutical in 1951. The EPA gradually began restricting its agricultural use in the 1970s due to concerns over its effects on human health and the environment. By 2002, its use was limited to seed treatments for just six crops, and in 2007, these last uses were cancelled. Pharmaceutical uses
Lindane medications continue to be available in the US, though since 1995, they have been designated "second-line" treatments, meaning they should be prescribed when other "first-line" treatments have failed or cannot be used. In December 2007, the FDA sent a Warning Letter to Morton Grove Pharmaceuticals, the sole U.S. manufacturer of lindane products, requesting that the company correct misleading information on two of its lindane websites.
Development  work in the UK was accelerated because at that time in World War II imports of derris containing the insecticide rotenone were restricted owing to the Japanese occupation of Malaya and alternatives were urgently needed. In trials in 1943 it was found that a five-fold increase in the yield of oats and wheat was achieved using a dust formulation of the available material, owing to its efficacy against wireworm pests. By the end of 1945, γ-hexachlorcyclohexane of 98% purity became available and ICI commercialised a seed treatment launched in 1949 as Mergamma A, containing 1% mercury and 20% lindane. Subsequently, lindane has been used to treat food crops and forestry products, as a seed or soil treatment, and to treat livestock and pets. It was used as a household pesticide as the active pesticide ingredient of an insecticidal floor wax product called "Freewax". It has also been used as pharmaceutical treatment for lice and scabies, formulated as a shampoo or lotion. Between 1950 and 2000, an estimated 600,000 tonnes of lindane were produced globally, and the vast majority of which was used in agriculture. It has been manufactured by several countries, including the United States, China, Brazil, and several European countries, but as of 2007, only India and possibly Russia are still producing it. By November 2006, the use of lindane had been banned in 52 countries and restricted in 33 others. Seventeen countries, including the US and Canada, allowed either limited agricultural or pharmaceutical use.