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DDT i s a n organochlorine insecticide used mainly to control mosquito-borne malaria and as an agricultural insecticide. It is available in several different forms: aerosols, dustable powders, emulsifiable concentrates, granules, and wettable powers. It is a colorless crystalline substance that is practically insoluble in water, but highly soluble in fats and most organic solvents. For many years it was one of the most potent and widely used pesticidal chemicals. It was first synthesized in 1874 by Othmai Ziedler. In 1939, Swiss scientist Paul Herman Muller discovered its use as an insecticide, for which he was awarded the 1948 Nobel Prize. The United States began to produce large quantities of DDT (dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane) to control vector-borne diseases such as malaria and typhus abroad. It was widely used by the Allied forces in malaria-prone jungles of southeast Asia. After 1945 it was extensively used as an agricultural insecticide. DDT was popular because of its low cost, effectiveness, persistence, and versatility.
DDT was largely responsible for eradicating malaria from Europe and North America. In countries like India, where millions used to die of malaria, its use almost eradicated the disease by the mid-1960s. A resurgence of the disease has occurred there and in many other tropical countries, however. DDT was less effective in tropical regions due to the continuous vigor in life cycle of mosquitoes and poor infrastructure; also because of the microbial resistance to drug treatment, the spread of the deadly malarial variant called plasmodium falciparum, and mosquito resistance to DDT. Currently, in Africa, about a million people die of malaria every year.
Since 1991, a number of researchers have been able to detect elevated levels of 1, 1, 1-trichloro-2, 2-bis (P-chlorophenyl) ethane (DDT) and its isomers in the air close to South Haven, Michigan. DDT is slightly to moderately toxic to mammalian species when it enters the digestive system through the mouth. In animal tests, it was found that DDT causes chronic adverse effects in the liver, nervous system, kidney, immune systems, and reproductive system. Its carcinogenic effects show increased liver and lung tumor production. As in other animals (including humans), birds are exposed to DDT through food chain. Fish and other aquatic animals obtain DDT from contaminated water bodies, the result of runoff from agricultural use. Because of the adverse effects of DDT, its use has been banned in developed countries; Sweden and Norway in 1970, followed by the United States in 1972. As of 2006, DDT has been used in tropical countries where mosquito-borne malaria and typhus are serious health problems.
Bibliography:
- Heindorf, J.K. Taylor Morgan, R. Christmas, and C. Vanderdort, DDT Concentration in the Soil and Air of South Haven, Michigan (USEPA Great Lakes National Program, 2001);
- J. Keeler, Lake Michigan Urban Air Toxics Study (EPA/600/SR-94/191, November 1994);
- Irvine Reed, Fight Malaria with DDT (USEPA Atmospheric Research and Exposure Assessment Laboratory, 2002).
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