Word: ddt
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
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...
Zero Tolerance. Two recent decisions by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia promise to unsnarl these problems. The court ordered Secretary of Agriculture Clifford M. Hardin to stop all interstate shipments of DDT within 30 days or else show the court why such an absolute ban would be a mistake. In the other case, the court ordered Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Robert H. Finch to publish in the Federal Register a proposal to establish "zero tolerance" levels for DDT residues in foods for humans. In effect, this will force manufacturers to prove to HEW that...
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...