Over 39 years have passed since the nationwide ban of a well-known pesticide, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) (1), yet it still has an important role in public health as well as the environment. DDT is a persistent toxin, having a long half-life of 2 to 15 years terrestrially and 150 years aquatically (as cited in 5). It was originally used in World War II to control malaria and yellow fever then became a main staple in pesticide control for crops. Because DDT was a highly effective pesticide for malaria it is still used in areas where the disease is prevalent. There is a mass of controversy surrounding the chemical and its continued use as governments try to find a balance between public welfare and the state of the environment.
The continued use of this pesticide requires research into the influence of DDT and other persistent chemicals on the environment and the human population. The pesticide enters the environment by run-off from soil, volatilization and its byproducts (DDD and DDE) enter the environment by chemical breakdown of DDT by sunlight (9). DDT sticks strongly to soil and does not dissolve easily into water, it begins to enter the environment by compiling within the adipose tissue of organisms making it an extremely persistent toxin.(explain a little more, which organisms start the biomag) This accumulation of DDT lead to bio-magnification in food webs, when DDT began to be used commercially, which affected predatory birds like ospreys, pelicans and eagles at the highest level of magnification (7). The contagion of DDT caused a reduction in the hardness of the bird’s eggs, because of a lack of calcium within the shell, and therefore widespread devastation in the population as the eggs all broke before ha...
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...eneral Fact Sheet)." Http://npic.orst.edu/. National Pesticide Information Center, 1999. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. .
(6) http://www.who.int/ipcs/publications/ehc/ehc241.pdf
(7) Reece, Jane B., Lisa A. Urry, Michael L. Cain, and Steven A. Wasserman. Campbell Biology. 9th ed. [S.l.]: Pearson Education, (2011). 974, 1254 Print.
(8) Short P, Colborn T. 1999. Pesticide use in the U.S. and policy
implications: A focus on herbicides. Toxicol Ind Health 15:
240–275.
9. WANG, Guangli et al. Co-metabolism of DDT by the newly isolated bacterium, Pseudoxanthomonas sp. wax. Braz. J. Microbiol. [online]. 2010, vol.41, n.2 [cited 2011-10-13], pp. 431-438 . Available from: . ISSN 1517-8382. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1517-83822010000200025.
In almost every chapter Carson references DDT. Throughout the book, she talks about chemicals destroying the water sources, the soil and the world. Once she cover...
3 Leicht B. G., McAllister B.F. 2014. Foundations of Biology 1411, 2nd edition. Southlake, TX: Fountainhead Press. Pp 137, 163-168, 177-180,
The pesticide DDT banned in 1987 was a detrimental to the environment leading to it to be banned in 1987. DDT remains in the soils for a long period of time. The chemicals affect the ecology of the soil and water run off causing contamination of livestock and native animals and aquatic species. Studies indicated a range of human health impacts from DDT including cancers, infertility, miscarriage and nervous system impairment. The social and economic impact of DDT use in viticulture was significant.
Thewessen, J. G. M., Williams, E. M., Roe, L. J. & Hussain, S. T. Nature 413, 277-281.
The main downfall of the bald eagle was the pesticide DDT. DDT otherwise known andichlorodiphenyltrichoorethane, would not dissolve in water or break down in the environment. This cause it to be absorbed by small animals or aquatic plants. The contaminated plants or small animals were thereatfter eaten by fist. These subsequent fish were then scooped and and eaten by bald eagles. Now, the higher up in the food chain DDT travelled, the more embedded it became in the animal’s fate. This caused the eagles to lay eggs with weak shells which, in turn caused the population to diminish. After the government found tra...
The history of life on earth could be thought of as a record of living things interacting with their surroundings; for most of history, this has meant that life molds over time by the environment it inhabits; however, very recently, humans have become capable of altering the environment in significant ways (Carson 49). Marine Biologist, Rachel Carson, in her environmental sciences book, The Silent Spring, documents the detrimental effects on the environment by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson argues vigilantly in an attempt to persuade her extremely diverse and expansive global audience, under the impression that chemicals, such as DDT, were safe for their health, that pesticides are in fact detrimental for their health. Through
Audesirk, Teresa, Gerald Audesirk, and Bruce E. Byers. Biology: Life on Earth with Physiology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2011. 268-69. Print.
All references and resources are taken from the Public Library of Science, Biology March 2004 issue and from Science March 16, 2004
In his short story, “Top of the Food Chain”, T.C. Boyle effectively argues that humans are destroying their planet with chemicals and that the general consensus of the public is that it is okay. He argues this efficaciously through the use of rhetorical and satirical devices, which are used throughout his story. Overall, I agree with Boyle’s argument that DDT is an especially harmful chemical to our planet, and while it may have had a place at one time, there is no need for it any longer.
...ortation of plants, fruits, vegetables, and animals. Indiscriminate pesticide use kills the good with the bad. Long term and wide spread pesticide use poisons underground water sources, which, in turn, poison plants, animals, and humans. And, finally, by our uninformed actions, new super races of pests continue to evolve and create even greater dangers than the original.
Cain, M. L., Urry, L. A., & Reece, J. B. (2010). Campbell Biology. Benjamin Cummings.
... The Web. 4 Feb. 2014. Campbell, Neil A., and Jane B. Reece. Biology.
"Pesticides." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 18 July 2005. Web. 20 May 2011. .
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (FWS). (2014, January 15). Pesticides and wild life. Retrieved form http://www.fws.gov/contaminants/info/ddt.html
“Ancient Romans killed insect pests by burning sulfur and controlled weeds with salt. In the 1600s, ants were controlled with mixtures of honey and arsenic. By the late nineteenth century, U.S. farmers were using copper acetoarsenite (Paris green),calcium arsenate, nicotine sulfate, and sulfur to control insect pests in field crops” (Delaplane, 1996). DDT was developed as the first modern synthetic insecticides in the 1940s. DDT was initially used to treat malaria, typhus, a...