DDT
It is ironic to think that man might determine his own future by something so seemingly trivial as the choice of an insect spray - Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
image by: Straight From a Scientist
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Rachel Carson's Silent Spring Turns 50
Reading Silent Spring today, it is disquieting to realize how much was already known in 1962 about the environmental health impacts of petrochemicals. Even more shocking is to recognize how little our regulatory response to these chemicals' effects has changed, despite the past five decades' great advances in scientific understanding.
Best known for its alarming account of DDT's decimation of birdlife across the United States, Silent Spring is widely credited with sparking the public concern that lead to the chemical's ban in the US ten years later. "Over increasingly large areas of the United States, spring now comes unheralded by the return of birds, and the early mornings,…
Resources
How 'the New DDT' Wreaks Havoc on the Bottom of the Food Chain
It's not just bees: A new study shows that neonicotinoids are impacting all kinds of insects and birds.
Better Know a Fix: DDT
DDT was the first modern synthetic pesticide. Paul Herman Müller, a Swiss chemist, discovered its insecticidal properties in 1939 after spending several years spritzing a glass box full of blue bottle flies with hundreds of chemicals. He was looking for a new insecticide with residual powers, which means that an insect that walked over or alit upon a treated surface would die.
A Nazi Version of DDT Was Forgotten. Could It Help Fight Malaria?
Scientists have rediscovered a compound developed by German researchers during World War II. It appears to be more effective and perhaps safer than DDT.
A New Home for DDT
DDT, the miracle insecticide turned environmental bogeyman, is once again playing an important role in public health. In the malaria-plagued regions of Africa, where mosquitoes are becoming resistant to other chemicals, DDT is now being used as an indoor repellent. Research that I and my colleagues recently conducted shows that DDT is the most effective pesticide for spraying on walls, because it can keep mosquitoes from even entering the room. The news may seem surprising, as some mosquitoes worldwide are already resistant to DDT. But we’ve learned that even mosquitoes that have developed an immunity to being directly poisoned by DDT are still repelled by it.
DDT finally linked to human health problems
Pregnant women exposed to the insecticide DDT are much more likely to give birth prematurely, or to full-term but low birth weight babies, says a US team. Although DDT is now banned in the developed world, it is still widely used elsewhere to combat malaria, particularly in Africa. “One of the reasons this finding is important is there are not any generally accepted adverse health effects of exposure to DDT or its metabolite, DDE, in humans,” says researcher Matthew Longnecker of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in North Carolina.
Possible Link Between DDT Pesticide Exposure And Alzheimer's Disease
A new study out in JAMA Neurology suggests that higher levels of the pesticide DDT might be linked to increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The keyword here is might, however, since the study was quite small and the connection not clear-cut.
The DDT Story
The only remaining legal use of DDT is to control malaria-carrying mosquitoes. A devastating disease, malaria kills more than 800,000 people every year, the majority of deaths among children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Indoor spraying with DDT is one of a number of tools being used to control malaria around the world. Only in rare cases is it the most effective choice.
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring Turns 50
Best known for its alarming account of DDT's decimation of birdlife across the United States, Silent Spring is widely credited with sparking the public concern that lead to the chemical's ban in the US ten years later.
The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson
Disturbed by the profligate use of synthetic chemical pesticides after World War II, Carson reluctantly changed her focus in order to warn the public about the long term effects of misusing pesticides.
African American Environmentalist Association
The Wall Street Journal endorses using DDT on its Editorial Opinion page (8/16/07) stating: "Opponents of DDT are only ensuring more misery and death." Great. We have been stating this for years. It is good to know that this respected publication has finally come around to agreeing with us.
Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry
This Public Health Statement is the summary chapter from the Toxicological Profile for DDT, DDE, and DDD. It is one in a series of Public Health Statements about hazardous substances and their health effects.
CDC
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is an insecticide used in agriculture. The United States banned the use of DDT in 1972, but some countries still use the chemical. DDT has also been used in the past for the treatment of lice. It is still in use outside the United States for the control of mosquitoes that spread malaria. DDT and its related chemicals persist for a long time in the environment and in animal tissues.
EXTOXNET
DDT is an organochlorine insecticide used mainly to control mosquito-borne malaria; use on crops has generally been replaced by less persistent insecticides (79). It was extensively used during the Second World War among Allied troops and certain civilian populations to control insect typhus and malaria vectors.
Malaria Foundation International
Our Mission is to facilitate the development and implementation of solutions to the health, economic, and social problems caused by malaria.
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