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May 11, 2024 · DDT, a synthetic insecticide that belongs to the family of organic halogen compounds and is highly toxic toward a variety of insects as a contact poison that apparently exerts its effects by disorganizing the nervous system. Learn more about DDT in this article.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Development of DDT
- Regulation Due to Health and Environmental Effects
- Current Status
DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) was developed as the first of the modern synthetic insecticides in the 1940s. 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, in...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the federal agency with responsibility for regulating pesticides before the formation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, began regulatory actions in the late 1950s and 1960s to prohibit many of DDT's uses because of mounting evidence of the pesticide's declining benefits and environmental and to...
Since 1996, EPA has been participating in international negotiations to control the use of DDT and other persistent organic pollutants used around the world. Under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme, countries joined together and negotiated a treaty to enact global bans or restrictions on persistent organic pollutants (POPs), ...
In insects, DDT opens voltage-sensitive sodium ion channels in neurons, causing them to fire spontaneously, which leads to spasms and eventual death. Insects with certain mutations in their sodium channel gene are resistant to DDT and similar insecticides. [26]
Jul 23, 2021 · Considered a general insecticide, DDT kills everything from beetles and lice to fleas and houseflies. For insect-eating birds, this poses a significant problem.
- Diane Hoffmaster
Feb 11, 2016 · The answer lies in worries about... Bioaccumulation. Polyhalogenated chemicals, such as DDT, and PCBs (there are 209 of them) are quite stable, chemically and metabolically. Most of them won't even burn. Unlike the vast majority of drugs and other chemicals that you ingest, these compounds are not quickly metabolized and excreted.
Jul 1, 2021 · July 1, 2021. 4 min read. Consequences of DDT Exposure Could Last Generations. Scientists found health effects in grandchildren of women exposed to the pesticide. By Carrie Arnold. The pesticide...
Animals. • DDT is slightly to moderately acutely toxic to mammals, including people, if eaten. See box on Laboratory Testing. • DDT is poorly absorbed through mammalian skin, but it is easily absorbed through an insect’s outer covering known as an exoskeleton (2).
