During the 1950s, as the targeted insect pest populations became increasingly resistant to treatment with many chemical insecticides, higher concentrations of the insecticides were applied to control the pests. In addition, chemical insecticides were found to lack specificity; consequently, beneficial insects were killed along with those that were considered to be pests. In fact, in some instances, the natural enemies of the insect pest species were killed off more efficiently than the target organisms, with the bizarre result that pesticide treatment led to greater numbers of the insects.