Word: ddt
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Widely used to control pest-borne diseases, DDT is now everywhere-the land, the sea, the fat tissues of animals and humans. Unfortunately, the miracle spray also kills helpful birds and insects, can sicken farm workers, and has been known to contaminate mothers' milk. Last November the Federal Government decided to phase out all but "essential uses" of DDT by next December. As a first step, it "canceled" four specific uses that account for 35% of the U.S.'s annual consumption. Yet manufacturers still produce as much DDT as ever: 100 million lbs. per year, 20% of which...
...DDT be legally marketed while being officially banned? One answer lies in legislative terminology: "cancellation" only starts a review process, which manufacturers can prolong for years while sales continue. Too, the Agriculture Department is mired in a seeming conflict of interest. Charged with regulating most uses of DDT, the department also urges farmers to use it to increase crop yields...
Roxanne O'Connell reports that 10.000 pelican chicks won't be born this year because pelican eggs are collapsing and killing the embrvos. The mothers ingested DDT which upset their calcium metabolism. That caused them to lay thin-shelled eggs that could not support their weight. Pelican eggs collapsed in the rookeries all the way from Anacapa to Mexico. The pelican, the osprev, the cormorant, the petrel; the seagull, the American Bald Eagle and the peregrine falcon: all of their eggs are collapsing, the shells are too thin. No new generations are being born...
...book, Biological Conservation: "All species are potential Humpty Dumpty's. The processes of evolution, as we know them, will not put them together again on this planet once they are destroyed." Even now, man may qualify for a niche in the red data book. "There is so much DDT in human fat," says Ehrenfeld, "that if man were edible, he would be banned from the market...
However, high costs may be outweighed by another factor. Some species, such as the malaria mosquito, have developed strains resistant to second generation insecticides like DDT. They can hardly be expected to develop resistance to their own hormones, Williams points...