Difference between revisions of "DDT"

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Revision as of 06:35, May 22, 2007

DDT is the common name of the chemical compound Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane. DDT is a synthetic organic chemical that was first made in 1874 by Othmar Zeidler, an German-Austrian chemist.

In 1939, Paul Hermann Müller[1], a Swiss chemist working for Geigy Pharmaceutical, discovered its pesticidal qualities. It was soon put to good use by Allied forces in World War II to help control malaria and typhus, especially in the Asian and Pacific theatres.

Following the war it was used widely with great success to eliminate the last pockets of malaria from North America and Europe. In 1955 the World Health Organization started a program to eradicate malaria worldwide, largely through the spraying of DDT declaring Brazil, Egypt, the former Soviet Union and several Asian and Carribean countries to be malaria-free and thus removing 700 million people from risk of infection.

DDT was also widely adopted as an acricultural pesticide and it was, perhaps, overused by farmers. Although not toxic in small amounts it was found that DDT accumulated in bodies through the food chain so that it had an adverse effect on bird-life, particularly raptors. In 1962, naturalist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a bestselling book that campaigned for the regulated use of DDT. However, public sentiment escalated into calling for an outright ban of DDT and other synthetic pesticides.

In 1970, DDT was banned in Norway and Sweden. The U.S. banned it in 1972, and the UK in 1984. Most developed countries have banned its use but it is still used for disease control in some tropical countries where no other methods exist. The quantities required for public welfare are a small fraction of the amount previously used for agricultural purposes.

In 2001, 98 countries ratified the Stockholm Convention, which calls for the elimination of DDT and other persistent organic chemicals after May 17, 2004, except for emergency health crises. However, in the absence of a suitable replacement, DDT is still allowed for disease vector control.

The World Health Organization in 2006 announced that it will use DDT for indoor residual spraying (IRS) in epidemic and endemic areas to reduce childhood mortality from malaria. [2]

See also

International Chemical Safety Card of DDT

Notes and References

  1. In 1948 Müller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT as a contact poison against several arthropods."
  2. [1] WHO - Indoor Residual Spraying - position paper