DDT

DDT (Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane) is a well-known pesticide.

It was discovered by the Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Müller, who received the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery.^[1]

In the 1960s, a study found that DDT can cause cancer.^[2] DDT is also highly poisonous to birds and other animals further up the food chain. For these reasons, DDT was replaced by other pesticides.

The Stockholm Convention (which took effect in 2004) restricts the use of DDT to vector control. The convention does not affect the use of DDT for public health issues because there are very few affordable alternatives. DDT is still widely used in India,^[3] North Korea and possibly elsewhere.^[4]

1. ↑ NobelPrize.org: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1948 Accessed July 26, 2007.
2. ↑ Carson, Rachel (1962). Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
3. ↑ "Concern over excessive DDT use in Jiribam fields". The Imphal Free Press. 2008-05-05. Archived from the original on 2008-12-06. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
4. ↑ van den Berg, Henk; Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention (October 23, 2008). "Global status of DDT and its alternatives for use in vector control to prevent disease" (PDF). Stockholm Convention/United Nations Environment Programme. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-18. Retrieved 2008-11-22.