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Concept
Lindane
Summary
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.
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 Jealott's 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. 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.
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