Molluscicidal properties and selective toxicity of surface-active agents.

Of over 100 commercially produced surface-active agents tested against the bilharziasis vector snail Biomphalaria sudanica, 13 were found to possess considerable and highly selective molluscicidal properties at concentrations of less than 1 ppm for exposures of 48 hours. Against crustacea, fish, water plants, mosquito larvae, mice, and the eggs of B. sudanica, the toxicities of the 13 surfactants were slight. The chemicals did not appear to be absorbed by organic matter to any appreciable extent. It is thought that the toxicity to B. sudanica is of both a chemical and a physical nature.