A highly toxic pesticide that works by disrupting the nervous systems of insects, once widely used but now banned or heavily restricted in many countries.
The name is derived from the chemical structure: dichlorovinyl phosphate, contracted to dichlorvos. It was synthesized in the 1950s as a commercial insecticide with the trade name DDVP (Dichlorvos).
Dichlorvos was so effective at killing insects that it became one of the world's most widely used pesticides, but it's also toxic to humans and was eventually found in many household products—it's a case study in how chemical effectiveness doesn't guarantee safety for the people using it.
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