Aldrin

A cyclodiene insecticide of the organochlorine era, applied to soil against root worms, beetles and termites around fruit and vegetable crops. Aldrin is a potent neurotoxin, and in the environment it converts to dieldrin, equally persistent; both climb food chains into fatty animal tissues. Remarkably stable, it lingers in soils for decades, and most countries banned it from crops long ago. The Stockholm Convention’s global ban closed its commercial chapter, but the legacy persists in contaminated land that still restricts what can be grown there. Aldrin remains a textbook case of persistence outlasting utility.