DDT

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DDT

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

DDT or 2,2-bis( p -chlorophenyl)-1,1,1,-trichloroethane, chlorinated hydrocarbon compound used as an insecticide . First introduced during the 1940s, it killed insects that spread disease and feed on crops. Swiss scientist Paul Müller was awarded the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering (1939) DDT's insecticidal properties. DDT, however, is toxic to many animals, including humans, and it is not easily degraded into nonpoisonous substances and can remain in the environment and the food chain for prolonged periods. By the 1960s its harmful effects on the reproductive systems of fish and birds were apparent in the United States, where the insecticide had been heavily used for agricultural purposes. After the United States banned its use in 1972, the wildlife population returned, particularly the bald eagle and the osprey. Nevertheless, DDT use continues in parts of the world, particularly in tropical regions, to control the mosquitoes that spread malaria . In 2001 the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants called for the phasing out of DDT once a cost-effective alternative becomes available.

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DDT

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | © The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English 2009, originally published by Oxford University Press 2009. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

DDT • abbr. dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a synthetic organic compound introduced in the 1940s as an insecticide and now widely banned.

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DDT

A Dictionary of Biology | 2004 | © A Dictionary of Biology 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane; a colourless organic crystalline compound, (ClC6H4)2CH(CCl3), made by the reaction of trichloromethanal with chlorobenzene. DDT is the best known of a number of chlorine-containing pesticides used extensively in agriculture in the 1940s and 1950s. The compound is stable, accumulates in the soil, and concentrates in fatty tissue, reaching dangerous levels in carnivores high in the food chain. Restrictions are now placed on the use of DDT and similar pesticides.

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Free Article DDT Risk Assessments.
Magazine article from: Environmental Health Perspectives; 7/1/2001
Free Article DDT and breast cancer in young women: new data on the significance of age at exposure.(Research)(dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane)(Clinical report)
Magazine article from: Environmental Health Perspectives; 10/1/2007
Free Article DDT Risk Assessments: Response.
Magazine article from: Environmental Health Perspectives; 7/1/2001

Facts and information from other sites

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DDT resistance and transformation by different microbial strains isolated from DDT-contaminated soils and compost materials
Magazine article from: Compost Science & Utilization; 10/1/2003; ; 700+ words ; ...2-bis (4-chlorophenyl) ethane (DDT) contaminated sites. In areas where suitable microbes are not present, the use of DDT resistant microbial inoculants may be necessary...Therefore, this work aimed to screen DDT-contaminated soil and compost materials...
DDT Ban Continues to Kill People
Magazine article from: Human Events; 7/19/2004; ; 700+ words ; ...environmental extremists have sought to ban all DDT use. Using phony studies from the Environmental...Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned DDT in 1972. The extremists convinced the nation that DDT was not only unsafe for humans but unsafe to...
DDT Risk Assessments.
Magazine article from: Environmental Health Perspectives; 7/1/2001; ; 700+ words ; ...Substances and Disease Registry toxicologic profile for DDT (3) make repeated references to DDT risks. These statements of risk, like so many...increases in diseases previously controlled with DDT. Behind disease statistics are grievous human tragedies...
DDT CASTS A SPELL ON FOURTH LAKE; ITS USE WAS BANNED IN 1970, BUT IT CONTINUES TO CONTAMINATE THE LAKE TODAY.(News)
Newspaper article from: The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY); 6/30/2002; 700+ words ; ...Thirty-two years after it was banned, DDT still haunts Fourth Lake. Nobody knows...readings show high levels. Others say the DDT lurks somewhere in the nearby hills, perhaps...would sparkle with health if not for the DDT contamination, which doesn't seem to...
DDT and breast cancer in young women: new data on the significance of age at exposure.(Research)(dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane)(Clinical report)
Magazine article from: Environmental Health Perspectives; 10/1/2007; ; 700+ words ; BACKGROUND: Previous studies of DDT and breast cancer assessed exposure later in life when the breast may not have been vulnerable, after most DDT had been eliminated, and after DDT had been banned. OBJECTIVES: We investigated whether...
DDT saves millions of lives, and ban is immoral
Newspaper article from: Deseret News (Salt Lake City); 7/8/2004; ; 700+ words ; ...environmental extremists have sought to ban all DDT use. Using phony studies from the Environmental...controlled Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT in 1972. The extremists convinced the nation that DDT was not only unsafe for humans but unsafe to...
DDT Risk Assessments: Response.
Magazine article from: Environmental Health Perspectives; 7/1/2001; ; 700+ words ; ...Fund (WWF) failed in efforts to eliminate DDT under the recently negotiated persistent organic...strongly supports the treaty's language on DDT. Throughout the negotiations, the WWF recognized that DDT should not be banned immediately and that...
DDT key to Third World's winning war on Malaria
Magazine article from: Human Events; 5/14/2001; ; 700+ words ; ...Dozen" chemicals, but permit limited use of DDT. Given what Secretary of State Colin Powell calls the "dire humanitarian need for DDT," he and other American officials should work to keep DDT available to malaria-- plagued Third World...
DDT and breast cancer revisited: new findings in an old debate.(Science Selections)(dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane)
Magazine article from: Environmental Health Perspectives; 10/1/2007; ; 700+ words ; ...have found new evidence potentially linking DDT with breast cancer in women [EHP 115:1406...et al]. The findings come at a time when DDT is once again being promoted as a tool to combat malaria. DDT was widely used as a pesticide in the United...
Prenatal DDT exposure in relation to anthropometric and pubertal measures in adolescent males.(Children's Health)
Magazine article from: Environmental Health Perspectives; 12/1/2004; ; 700+ words ; DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), a pesticide...because of a combination of benefits and risks. DDT or its breakdown products are ubiquitous in the environment and in humans. Compounds in the DDT family have endocrine actions and have been...
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DDT. (Image by Cacycle, GFDL)

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