DDT: To Ban or Not to Ban? Thomas G. Robins, MD, MPH

DDT Ban Takes Effect [EPA press release - December 31, 1972] The general use of the pesticide DDT will no longer be legal in the United States after today, ending nearly three decades of application during which time the once-popular chemical was used to control insect pests on crop and forest lands, around homes and gardens, and for industrial and commercial purposes. Ruckelshaus said he was convinced that the continued massive use of DDT posed unacceptable risks to the environment and potential harm to human health.

DDT Ban Takes Effect An end to the continued domestic usage of the pesticide was decreed on June 14, 1972, when William D. Ruckelshaus, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, issued an order finally cancelling nearly all remaining Federal registrations of DDT products. Public health, quarantine, and a few minor crop uses were excepted, as well as export of the material.

DDT Ban Takes Effect DDT was developed as the first of the modern insecticides early in World War II. It was initially used with great effect to combat malaria, typhus, and the other insect-borne human diseases among both military and civilian populations.

DDT Ban Takes Effect A persistent, broad-spectrum compound often termed the "miracle" pesticide, DDT came into wide agricultural and commercial usage in this country in the late 1940s. During the past 30 years, approximately 675,000 tons have been applied domestically. The peak year for use in the United States was 1959 when nearly 80 million pounds were applied. From that high point, usage declined steadily to about 13 million pounds in 1971, most of it applied to cotton.

Wildlife Fund wants world DDT ban May 1999: Sufficient scientific evidence exists of DDT's danger to humans and animals to justify a global ban on the insecticide, according to a recent World Wildlife Fund report. The report was released to coincide with a week-long gathering in Nairobi of delegates from more than 100 nations to negotiate a treaty banning 12 toxic substances, including DDT.

Wildlife Fund wants world DDT ban "The report illustrates the persistence and pervasiveness of chemicals such as DDT which can be sprayed in a village in Africa and end up in the fat of polar bears in the Arctic,'' the Washington, D.C.-based organization said.

Wildlife Fund wants world DDT ban The report summarizes current research on DDT and its most popular alternative, synthetic pyrethroids. The treaty would ban the so-called "dirty dozen" toxic chemicals, called persistent organic pollutants (POPS), which include DDT, dioxin and PCBs. The highly toxic chemicals break down extremely slowly.

Wildlife Fund wants world DDT ban "DDT is such a potent chemical that as long as it is used anywhere in the world, nobody is safe,'' Clifton Curtis, director of WWF's Global Toxic Initiative, told reporters at the headquarters of the U.N. Environment Program outside Nairobi. Even though DDT is banned in 34 countries and severely restricted in 34 others, it is still endorsed by World Health Organization for use in the control of malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Do you need DDT for me?!

DDT Ban and Malaria Monday 19 April 1999 Summary: An international group of malaria researchers oppose the total ban of DDT. They say that the ban will cause a huge increase in malaria related deaths. An international group of eminent malaria researchers have come out strongly opposing the total ban on DDT which many environmental organisations are pushing as quickly as possible on governments around the world. They say the ban will cause a huge increase in malaria related deaths and far outweigh the benefits of a complete and premature ban of the vilified insecticide.

Tanzania - Malaria surges after DDT ban Thursday, May 16 2002 Tanzanian EHOs are calling for an end to a ban on the use of DDT, one of the world’s most powerful pesticides, in a bid to reduce malaria deaths. Malaria is one of the highest causes of infant mortality in the east African state, killing 98,000 children a year.