Dichlorvos (2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate, commonly abbreviated as an DDVP[1]) is an organophosphate widely used as an insecticide to control household pests, in public health, and protecting stored products from insects.

[3] Dichlorvos is effective against mushroom flies, aphids, spider mites, caterpillars, thrips, and whiteflies in greenhouses and in outdoor crops.

It is also used in the milling and grain handling industries and to treat a variety of parasitic worm infections in animals and humans.

It is also used in pet flea collars and "no-pest strips" in the form of a pesticide-impregnated plastic; this material has been available to households since 1964 and has been the source of some concern, partly due to misuse.

[10] In 1995 a voluntary agreement was reached with the supplier, Amvac Chemical Corporation, which restricted the use of dichlorvos in many, but not all, domestic uses, all aerial applications, and other uses.

[13][14][15] Between 2000 and 2013, thirty-one cases of acute dichlorvos pest strip-related illness were reported to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) sentinel system.

[17] As of 1990, it was produced in Argentina, Brazil, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, the USA, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, and the Netherlands.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set a recommended exposure limit (REL) of 1 mg/m3 over an 8-hour workday.

The biodegradation mechanism of many OPs has been studied deeply, especially for the methyl parathion, whose degradation genes and enzymes were cloned and purified.

[21] Since it is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, symptoms of dichlorvos exposure include weakness, headache, tightness in chest, blurred vision, salivation, sweating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, eye and skin irritation, miosis (pupil constriction), eye pain, runny nose, wheezing, laryngospasm, cyanosis, anorexia, muscle fasciculation, paralysis, dizziness, ataxia, convulsions, hypotension (low blood pressure), and cardiac arrhythmias.

One of the book's many vignettes tells of a woman who nearly dies, having taken barbiturates and gone to sleep in a closed room where a fly-killing strip doused with the material was placed.