What Is DDT Ethical?

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, better known as DDT is a notorious organochlorine pesticide that is created by the reaction of chloral with chlorobenzene in combination with sulfuric acid(Britannica p.1). It was first used as an insecticide in 1939 by Hermann Muller in Switzerland. DDT works as an insecticideby acting on the nervous system to generate the same neural impulse over and over causing body tremors and eventually death. DDT is an extremely stable chemical compound containing C14H9Cl5 which leads to some significant resistance issues when used as a pesticide. The most problematic property of DDT is its high fat solubility and extremely low water solubility meaning that it has a tendency to stick around in the environment for longer than we want since it is readily taken up in the bodies of nearby mammals.

Following the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic pollutants, by 2008, 160 nations signed the agreement to eliminate DDT, considered one of the twelve pollutants of “greatest concern to the health of the global community” (Eskenazi et al., 2009). Despite unease about the lasting effects of DDT, the insecticide should not be banned completely.

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.

DDT is a chemical that is widely known for is properties as an insecticide. When humans discovered this “wonder product” the whole country was on fire! The one company that made the most money was Montrose Chemical Corporation. From 1942 - 1971, when DDT was banned, the MCC pumped out DDT tons at a time. However, the bigshots were faced with a problem. Where do you dump all the leftover byproduct? Hey, why not the ocean! When DDT byproduct, DDE, was dumped into the ocean, fish and other seafood had it leached into them. This meant the bald eagles’ main food source was contaminated. When the bald eagles ingested their main source of food, the DDE became very concentrated in them. When bald eagles attempted to lay eggs, barely any would hatch! The DDE caused their eggs to be porous, and the eggs fail to hatch. This meant the bald eagles’ total extinction on the Channel Islands by the 1950’s.

DDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbons are very fat soluble so when these chemicals are sprayed on plants and these plants get eaten by animal the chlorinated hydrocarbon gets in the animal's fat. Then that animal get eaten by another animal and now that has the chlorinated

When DDT became available for civilian use in 1945, there were only a few people who expressed second thoughts about this new miracle compound. One was nature writer Edwin Way Teale, who warned, "A spray as indiscriminate as DDT can upset the economy of nature as much as a revolution upsets social economy. Ninety percent of all insects are good, and if they are killed, things go out of kilter right away." Another was Rachel Carson, who wrote to the Reader's Digest to propose an article about a series of tests on DDT being conducted not far from where she lived in Maryland. The magazine rejected the idea.

threatening to humans in Africa. We should use DDT in Africa because of the harmful effects of

Aerial spraying, overspray, and drift threaten food crops not modified to withstand the pesticides. Soil is bare and exposed seven months of the year, resulting in tremendous soil erosion. It isn’t our soil to lose. Future generations will pay the price” (McCulloch). Farms that operate on a monocultural based scale have made it easy for specific insects to multiply abundantly. However, at the rate and to the extent that pesticides are being applied, has resulted in and continues to cause overall disturbance to the natural ecosystem. Through the studies of Rachel Carson, as infected insects were being consumed by birds, runoff from crops were leaking into streams and rivers and people were being diagnosed with illnesses. Because DDT is a synthetic chemical compound, many organisms do not have an enzyme to break it down and it becomes stored in fat and liver tissues where it cannot be

Carson’s anchor text, “Silent Spring” is inspiring some people to solve the problem that could get worse in the future. For example, it makes people think we should care for the planet more because if we don’t, we could disappear in a second. In this anchor text, it is about the dangers of DDT. It is a dangerous pesticides many people try to get rid of. With this more people start to be puzzled.

Central Claim- The lack of accountability by humans led to many environmental disasters and threatened the future health of the environment.

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is an extremely powerful contact insecticide that has a high toxicity. It can be swallowed or pass in through the epidermis, also known as the skin. Some characteristics of the compound are that it is odorless and colorless, usually found in a crystalline powder form. It is not water soluble, but is fat soluble, which allows for it to accumulate inside of the tissues.

If there is a way to prevent large numbers of humans from dying from disease infested insects it seems to be a benefit to human life. Also, if DDT can be used to help our food supply from becoming attacked by pest, which will benefit communities in foods supply it too will benefit the human population. It should be used to save lives and food for human consumption. If this chemical was not used millions of lives would have been lost. The fact that the alternative chemicals are more harmful than DDT shows that DDT is the best defense against disease infested insects that can call disease in

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) was the prevailing insecticide used throughout the United States, up until its ban approximately forty years ago because it’s the long-term negative effects on human health. Farms have switched over to other insecticides, but did not take the health of honey bees into account.

While DDT is still banned, there is the factor of biological magnification that is still present today. Biological magnification is the process in which chemicals of small doses are absorbed into the fatty tissues of animals through the water they drink, and as they are absorbed into the fatty tissues, they are then passed down to the offspring of the animals through the mother’s milk, and are absorbed into the offspring’s fatty tissues. This is present in humans just as much as animals, and has lead to the fact that DDT still exists in our ecosystem to this day.

In terms of costs, benefits, and risks, does the value to society of pesticides such as dibromochloropropane, mevinphos, and dichlorvos justify their use or to warrant the risks they pose?