Flit (insecticide)
Flit (stylized in all caps) was the brand name for an insecticide. The original product, invented by chemist Dr. Franklin C. Nelson and launched in 1923 and mainly intended for killing flies and mosquitoes, was mineral oil based and manufactured by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, before the company, now part of ExxonMobil, was renamed first Esso and later Exxon. A hand-operated atomizer called a Flit gun was commonly used to perform the spraying.
After DDT proved successful as an insecticide used by the U.S. military in World War II, Flit was reformulated to contain 1 to 5 percent DDT in 1947. An alternative formula containing lindane was introduced in 1950. Once the negative environmental impact of both these substances became widely known, Esso replaced these formulations in 1967 with a mineral oil-based product called Flit Mosquito Larvacidal Oil (marketed as Flit MLO). The brand was later discontinued, and Exxon allowed the Flit trademark to expire in 1996.
The Flit brand name has been reused for another insecticide product, with the primary active ingredient of permethrin, marketed by Clarke Mosquito Control. The current product is most often used to control adult mosquitoes. Spraying it into the air kills adult mosquitoes that are present and then by settling onto surfaces it kills mosquitoes that may later land.