Word: ddt
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...Soap & DDT. By U.S. standards, Persia is an incredibly backward nation. Its population of 17,750,000 is riddled with disease (an estimated 5,000,000 cases of malaria annually and at least 7,000 cases of leprosy). Its infant death rate is estimated at more than 50 per 1,000 live births. Its schools are few and poor. Of some 125 million acres of potentially arable land, only one-tenth is farmed and that with primitive tools...
...crop Aroostookians agreed to cut their acreage by one-fourth-though the Department of Agriculture insists that farmers are growing almost as many spuds, on less land, by planting the rows a little closer together and piling on the DDT and fertilizer. Aroostookians had themselves persuaded Agriculture Secretary Charles Brannan to cut the support price from 90% to 60%, they say. But the House has put it back up to 90%. The big potato grab wasn't over...
...Shanghai's curio bazaar, where foreign visitors used to throng, merchants slump disconsolately beside their stalls or aimlessly play Chinese checkers. In once-thriving jewelry stores on Nanking Road, where intricately wrought gold ornaments and glistening jade once brought handsome prices, merchants have turned to selling soap, DDT, medicines, towels and underwear. Of 136 factories that formerly made headily scented cosmetics, only 30 are in operation, and they are engaged exclusively in manufacturing toothpaste...
Sometimes insects are benefited by spraying. A woodland plot in Massachusetts, infested with gypsy moth caterpillars, was sprayed with 1.5 lbs. of DDT per acre. With the caterpillars wiped out, the forest remained green and flourishing, and soon had a normal population of non-pest insects. A nearby plot, left unsprayed, was defoliated by the caterpillars and lost two-thirds of its normal insect population...
Insect Irruptions. Hoffmann & Linduska want no one to think that DDT is foolproof. If used incorrectly, they concede that it can cause major trouble Heavy doses (5 lbs. or more per acre) might poison birds and small mammals and cause insect "irruptions." Aphids (plant lice) sometimes multiply disastrously when too much DDT has killed too many of their natural. enemies. But careful observations made all over the U.S. show that moderate spraying with DDT has little or no effect on birds, reptiles or mammals-and successfully gets rid of the pests...