Word: ddt
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THOUGH BANNED IN THE U.S. IN 1972, DDT IS NOT forgotten. Soluble in fat, the insecticide leaves trace amounts that can linger for decades in human tissue. Now a study published by the National Cancer Institute suggests that these residual effects may be deadly. Researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and New York University have found that the greater the exposure to DDT the higher the risk of breast cancer for women...
...women in whom breast cancer had recently been discovered. Then they analyzed the blood of 171 women who had similar medical histories but no cancer. On average, the cancer patients had 35% more residue in their blood. Although the results are preliminary, the team believes that the association between DDT and breast cancer bears further investigation...
With the deployment of DDT in 1939, it looked as if final victory over the mosquito might be at hand; and indeed, through the years chemical insecticides took such a toll on mosquito populations that yellow fever and other infections they carried became almost unheard-of in the developed world...
Chemicals also took a toll on mosquito research. "The age of DDT was also the dark age of entomology," says Dan Kline, another of the Mosquito Unit's scientists. "There was no money for basic research. Mosquitoes a problem? Just take some DDT and nuke 'em. Why bother with research when you can do that...
...DDT was outlawed across the United States because of the extensive environmental damage it causes...