Taking a Look at Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, DDT

A positive consequence of DDT is its effectiveness, even in the face of pesticide resistance in the anopheles mosquito. The eradication of malaria in the United States and the health of US Soldiers while fighting in World War II can be greatly credited to the use of DDT

Many animals kill countless numbers of humans every second, minutes, and hours. The mosquito is among those predators, and it causes the most morbidity and mortality among humans compared to any other animal or insect. Mosquitoes are notoriously known for causing malaria worldwide. Malaria is a disabling illness which can result in mobility and mortality. People infected with the disease become weak over a period of time. This reduces their productivity level; thus it makes simple activities of daily living difficulty to accomplish. Some of the common symptoms of malaria resemble those of the flu. Malaria is an extreme health burden in low and middle income countries especially African countries. Moreover, the disease is mostly prevalent in sub-Saharan African countries, among pregnant women and children age 5 and younger. Over the years, scientists have discovered and developed several methods to control the spread of malaria. One of the most controversial control methods for malaria is DDT. DDT is short for dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane; this method come in the form of a pesticide or insecticide. It is used to kill pest and insects specifically mosquitoes. “DDT is used in indoor spraying for control of vectors of malaria and visceral leishmaniasis” (Van den Berg, 2009). Scientists have realized that the pesticide could be effective at preventive malaria by reducing the amount of mosquitoes in the environment. Despite this, concerns about the effectiveness and safety of

Throughout his essay, Suzuki supports his arguments with specific examples. To justify his reasoning, the author uses the case of DDT, otherwise known as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane. This chemical compound is used as an insecticide to eliminate the population of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, which it did effectively, and saved millions of lives. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, complications arose, which led to an increase in chemicals and caused a domino effect of

The following involves the second chapter of Carson’s book, Silent Spring that was written in 1962. In this chapter Carson argues persuasively the adverse impacts of pesticides upon the environment and the risks on human health and the environment associated with these “genetic invaders” (Carson, 1962). Many of the extremely diverse people from Carson’s audience targeted were under the impression that chemicals like DDT, at that time in history, were safe for their health. Carson reconciles and attempts to persuade the public to consider the idea that DDT, which in the 1950s and 60s was one of the many chemical pesticides being manufactured and sold to

”On those visits, I feel not only the spirit of the local people…and the seasonal change.”(345).Nowadays seasonal variation in industrial societies is minimized by importing many products that mature in specific seasons from different parts of the world. Technologies however, are impacting on our lives. “DDT would exert incredible selective pressure for mutations that would confer resistance” (347), it killed malaria-carrying mosquitoes but in few years large numbers of mosquitoes will return. It also has ecological damage the compound is ingested by many organisms, become concentrated up the food chain in a process called biomagnification. It causes heavy bird mortality.

One reason why DDT should not be used is because of its harmful effects on humans. First, research had shown that the consumption of DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) had caused many people to contract many dangerous diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, obesity, kidney and ovarian diseases. Studies had also linked the use of DDT to be a carcinogenic, causing breast cancer in women. A study of 9,300

In the early 1940’s, a new technology emerged that was able to successfully combat crop-damaging and disease-carrying insects. A new age of synthetic chemical pesticides use arose. After their impressive success in fighting deadly insect-borne diseases during World War II, pesticides were used widely to combat insect pests for agriculture and public health. Few people challenged the benefits of the new scientific and technological products and many embraced pesticide use with enthusiasm. Despite its success, doubts about pesticide use began to appear a decade later in the 1950’s, when the government began a vigorous pesticide campaign across the country against insect pests. Scientists began reporting heavy losses of avian and

DDT use can lead to horrible effects in humans and we can not become immune to these horrible unlike the flies that we are trying to kill. We think we have all this superiority over little insects when in fact they have the hand over us. Not because they are more intelligent than us but because we are too intelligent for ourselves. Conniff’s essay shows how our own superiority can lead to our demise.

According to a recent study done by EPA, thirty-three percent Unites States household use toxic chemicals such as pesticides and of thirty commonly used pesticides, nineteen have studies pointing toward carcinogens, thirteen are linked with birth defects, twenty-one with reproductive effect, and fifteen with neurotoxicity, twenty-six with liver or kidney damage. Environmentalist Rachel Carson book Silent Spring discusses the lethality of pesticides, specifically parathion. Rachel Carson hopes to change American’s attitudes toward nature and pesticide use. In this influential passage, Rachel Carson discusses disastrous affect of parathion on nature in order to dissuade the further use of toxic chemicals. Carson begins the column by illustrating

In the article, “DDT Ban: Is DDT Dangerous or Beneficial” written by Lillian Forman, looks at a chemical used to fight off insects that carried disease after World War II. The chemical compound that was used to kill the unwanted pest is called dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane or DDT. The chemical was used to fight insects that carried diseases to soldiers in camps, people in refugee camps, tourists in tropical areas, and people in bombed out cities. Because the chemical was used in Europe and Asia, and save millions of lives many believed it was a miracle chemical. Though some insects like lady bugs, bees, praying mantises are useful, humans have a good reason to fear other insects. Some of the feared insects include mosquitoes, ticks, body lice, cockroaches, and flies. Mosquitos carry malaria and contagious illnesses such as West Nile virus. Ticks carry Lyme disease and body lice infect their victims with typhus. Whereas cockroaches carry germs that can cause severe gastrointestinal problems. Flies carry even more dangerous pathogens, some of which cause deadly meningitis. Insects are harmful to more than just human health, locusts periodically destroy crops, termites eat away wooden structures, and moths ruin cloth.

With all this focus on the development of new drugs to combat malaria, an old effective method has been forgotten. The chemical DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) has proven effective in reducing malaria cases. Popularly used as a pesticide in the middle of the twentieth century, killed the mosquito population that was responsible for malaria related deaths. The number of people in India that contracted malaria in the 1940’s was approximately 75 million a year with 800,000 dying as a result. With the introduction of DDT, the number of cases dropped to 50,000 by 1961. Similar cases have been documented in Sri Lanka, where the number of cases dropped in 18 years from 3 million to 29 after the introduction of DDT (“DDT Delirium,” 2002). The difference in numbers is staggering.

DDT is a pesticide that is deleterious to a majority of living organisms. When humans are exposed to DDT, different conditions can erupt. For example, DDT was banned in 1972 for causing the Alzheimer’s disease, obesity, kidney and ovarian diseases. DDT has also been found to cause early pregnancy loss because of the damaging it causes to the reproductive system. I know this because I have read it in the article “The Effects of DDT on Organisms and their Environments.” Furthermore, DDT cause infertility in men and women. Recent studies have found DDT to be carcinogenic, or able to cause cancer. It increases the risk of breast cancer when exposed in utero or while in the mother’s womb. It is clear that DDT can be destructive the human population.

DDT is an insecticide that is known to be particularly effective in controlling the spread of malaria-bearing mosquitos. However, the use of DDT is also controversial because of its negative effects on the environment and the potential risks to human health, which were brought to attention in Rachel Carson’s hugely influential Silent Spring (1962). DDT has been banned in the United States for over thirty years, largely due to the response Silent Spring incited in the public (Bailey, 2004). Malaria remains an issue that is especially prevalent in developing countries; it is also these countries that often rely on foreign aid, and that aid occasionally comes with the condition that the use of DDT be banned.

There are many contributions to causing many health issues, one, in particular, is cancer. The tap water that we drink contains chemicals that contribute to causing cancer. One specific chemical is DDT, scientifically known as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, it is an odorless chemical that has no taste, that is used as an insecticide. In addition, the chemical is also used to fight against diseases. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “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” (EPA). Although

After viewing the studies held in the United States and Africa, I believe that the use of DDT in the United States or Africa is not ethical. If I were a politician or community leader, I would ban the use of all the insecticides that harm people and the environment. Even if some will argue that their current use in some areas shows that their perceived benefits outweigh the health and environmental risks, but I strongly believe that the use of DDT is not an appropriate insecticide. According to United States Environmental Protection Agency, DDT is known to be very persistent in the environment and stays for a significant period of time; it will accumulate in fatty tissues, and can travel long distances in the upper atmosphere (EPA, n.d.).