The only remaining legal use of DDT is to control malaria-carrying mosquitoes. A devastating disease, malaria kills more than , 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. Successful malaria control programs have been built all over the world using a variety of approaches that are affordable and appropriate to local needs.
All include community involvement, appropriate technology and investment in public health capacity and education.
These community-based, integrated solutions have proven successful in places as diverse as Mexico, Kenya and Vietnam. Please click here to see any active alerts.
DDT dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane was developed as the first of the modern synthetic insecticides in the s. It was initially used with great effect to combat malaria, typhus, and the other insect-borne human diseases among both military and civilian populations. It also was effective for insect control in crop and livestock production, institutions, homes, and gardens.
DDT's quick success as a pesticide and broad use in the United States and other countries led to the development of resistance by many insect pest species. The U. Department of Agriculture, the federal agency with responsibility for regulating pesticides before the formation of the U.
This paper will also incorporate the personal collection of Daniel E. In this fashion, this paper is not only in agreement with the arguments put forth by many of these authors, but will also bring new primary sources into the discussion to help build on previous research.
In order to completely understand the issues associated with DDT, one must know how the chemical operates once applied to an organism. In short, DDT attacks the nervous system via the obstruction of natural nerve impulses, which can cause symptoms such as loss of coordination, convulsions, and vomiting in both animals and humans.
This ignorance persisted until Rachel Carson helped bring these issues into the public. Rachel Carson, born in rural Springdale, Pennsylvania, was an avid lover of nature and possessed a strong sense of duty to protect the natural environment. Upon graduating from Johns Hopkins University in , she joined the U. Fish and Wildlife Service as a marine biologist and went on to write about environmental issues associated with aquatic life. In , Carson received a letter from a colleague in Massachusetts who expressed concern over the massive bird kills at Cape Cod due to the spraying of DDT.
Since the end of World War II, DDT had been used to control diseases, like malaria, at alarming rates, and this episode proved to be what ultimately drove Carson to write Silent Spring. After four years Carson finished the book, which focused mainly on how DDT enters the fatty tissues of animals and humans via bioaccumulation in the food chain, causing cancer and genetic birth defects. However, the fact that DDT was not officially banned in the United States until a decade after publication shows that many still were unconvinced and considered the chemical a valuable as well as significant weapon in the fight against malaria and other insect-borne diseases.
More specifically, it is an organochlorine pesticide that was created in Germany in and was initially used by the US military to help control infectious diseases, such as malaria and typhus, during World War II. The United States fought the war on two fronts, one being in tropical areas of the Pacific Ocean. DDT was no stranger to propaganda; for every one man killed in battle, malaria would kill eight, which gave the United States a stepping-stone from which to push its DDT agenda during the war.
DDT was used largely due to its reasonable cost, demonstrated effectiveness, and persistence in killing insects. The insecticide also proved to be relatively inexpensive to manufacture and stayed in the environment for a long time, effectively killing any insects that came within a certain range. Between and , cases of malaria fell from approximately , to practically none because of the use of DDT. DDT is still used today in parts of South America, Asia, and Africa with the aim of controlling malaria in places that may not be able to afford more expensive and potentially safer alternatives.
Because of the ban on DDT in the United States in , restrictions have been applied to its use; DDT can legally be produced in the United States but may only be sold to or used by foreign countries. Two of the major reasons behind the ban of DDT were the scientific evidence that exhibited buildup in the fatty tissues of wildlife while persisting in the natural environment and proved the existence of an evolutionary resistance that insects began to develop towards the chemical.
Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease that can be found primarily in tropical and impoverished areas of the Earth. It can cause fevers, headaches, and may even lead to death. In , the first stages of spraying were carried out upon nearly , houses, with the goal of reaching nearly three million households by Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane DDT Factsheet. Minus Related Pages. DDT exposure in people Exposure to DDT in people likely occurs from eating foods, including meat, fish, and dairy products.
A small portion of the population had measurable DDT.
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