A study of more than 1 million pregnancies in Finland reports that elevated levels of a metabolite of the banned insecticide DDT in the blood of pregnant women are linked to increased risk for autism in the offspring. An ...
Aug 16, 2018
2
1675
Pesticide exposure, not obesity alone, can contribute to increased cardiovascular disease risk and inflammation in premenopausal women, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology ...
Apr 8, 2015
1
39
Could persistent pollutants like DDT and PCBs or chemicals found in plastics be making you fat or diabetic? The answer may depend on what sort of bacteria you have churning around in your gut, according to Cornell scientists.
Nov 3, 2011
0
0
All women exposed to high levels of DDT are at increased risk for breast cancer through age 54, but the timing of cancer risk depends on when they were first exposed, according to a new study published today in the Journal ...
Feb 13, 2019
0
76
A new study led by researchers from Florida International University (FIU) reveals a mechanism linking the pesticide DDT to Alzheimer's disease.
Aug 17, 2022
0
7
Scientists have known for more than 40 years that the synthetic pesticide DDT is harmful to bird habitats and a threat to the environment.
Jan 27, 2014
0
0
Washington State University researchers say ancestral exposures to environmental compounds like the insecticide DDT may be a factor in high rates of obesity. The finding comes as DDT is getting a second look as a tool against ...
Oct 22, 2013
1
0
Previous exposure to the pollutant DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) may contribute to the risk of diabetes among Asian Indian immigrants to the United States, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.
Nov 20, 2019
0
39
Exposure of pregnant mice to the pesticide DDT is linked to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and related conditions in female offspring later in life, according to a study led by the University of ...
Jul 30, 2014
0
0
Women who were exposed to higher levels of the pesticide DDT in utero were nearly four times more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer as adults than women who were exposed to lower levels before birth, according to ...
Jun 16, 2015
0
27
DDT (from its trivial name, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history.
First synthesized in 1874, DDT's insecticidal properties were not discovered until 1939, and it was used with great success in the second half of World War II to control malaria and typhus among civilians and troops. The Swiss chemist Paul Hermann 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." After the war, DDT was made available for use as an agricultural insecticide, and soon its production and use skyrocketed.
In 1962, Silent Spring by American biologist Rachel Carson was published. The book catalogued the environmental impacts of the indiscriminate spraying of DDT in the US and questioned the logic of releasing large amounts of chemicals into the environment without fully understanding their effects on ecology or human health. The book suggested that DDT and other pesticides may cause cancer and that their agricultural use was a threat to wildlife, particularly birds. Its publication was one of the signature events in the birth of the environmental movement, and resulted in a large public outcry that eventually led to DDT being banned in the US in 1972. DDT was subsequently banned for agricultural use worldwide under the Stockholm Convention, but its limited use in disease vector control continues to this day and remains controversial.
Along with the passage of the Endangered Species Act, the US ban on DDT is cited by scientists as a major factor in the comeback of the bald eagle, the national bird of the United States, from near-extinction in the contiguous US.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
