It is highly hydrophobic and nearly insoluble in water but has good solubility in most organic solvents, fats, and oils. A worldwide ban on agricultural use was formalized under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, but its limited and still-controversial use in disease vector control continues, because of its effectiveness in reducing malarial infections, balanced by environmental and other health concerns.Īlong with the passage of the Endangered Species Act, the United States ban on DDT is a major factor in the comeback of the bald eagle (the national bird of the United States) and the peregrine falcon from near-extinction in the contiguous United States.ĭDT is similar in structure to the insecticide methoxychlor and the acaricide dicofol. Although Carson never directly called for an outright ban on the use of DDT, its publication was a seminal event for the environmental movement and resulted in a large public outcry that eventually led, in 1972, to a ban on DDT's agricultural use in the United States. The book cited claims that DDT and other pesticides caused cancer and that their agricultural use was a threat to wildlife, particularly birds. It talked about environmental impacts that correlated with widespread use of DDT in agriculture in the United States, and it questioned the logic of broadcasting potentially dangerous chemicals into the environment with little prior investigation of their environmental and health effects. Opposition to DDT was focused by the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring. Although it was promoted by government and industry for use as an agricultural and household pesticide, there were also concerns about its use from the beginning. Müller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1948 "for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT as a contact poison against several arthropods".īy October 1945, DDT was available for public sale in the United States. DDT was used in the second half of World War II to control malaria and typhus among civilians and troops. DDT's insecticidal action was discovered by the Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Müller in 1939. DDT was first synthesized in 1874 by the Austrian chemist Othmar Zeidler. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. Īlong with the passage of the Endangered Species Act, the United States ban on DDT is a major factor in the comeback of the bald eagle (the national bird of the United States) and the peregrine falcon from near-extinction in the contiguous United States.Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochlorine. DDT still has limited use in disease vector control because of its effectiveness in killing mosquitos and thus reducing malarial infections, but that use is controversial due to environmental and health concerns. Ī worldwide ban on agricultural use was formalized under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants which has been in effect since 2004. It talked about environmental impacts that correlated with the widespread use of DDT in agriculture in the United States, and it questioned the logic of broadcasting potentially dangerous chemicals into the environment with little prior investigation of their environmental and health effects. īy October 1945, DDT was available for public sale in the United States. Müller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1948 "for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT as a contact poison against several arthropods". DDT was used in the second half of World War II to limit the spread of the insect-borne diseases malaria and typhus among civilians and troops. Organochloride known for its insecticidal propertiesĭichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride.
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