Spleen Squeezin's

DDT was a good thing?

Then again, that campaign started 4 years before I was born, so I guess the only thing I've ever heard about DDT was how horrible it was.

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It may not be "good"(it is a poison after all), but it certainly doesn't seem to be as bad as all the hype suggested. Most of the arguments made against it were circumstantial and speculative; a lot of "may cause"s and "might be linked to"s.

I'm not sure of too many studies that actually confirmed that DDT was as harmful as it was claimed. To people at least.

It was certainly a lot easier to argue the positives of it. It limited the insect populations that were vectors for diseases like malaria and lime disease. In all, DDT probably saved more human lives during its use than it ever threatened.

But, like mercury, it can build up in the food chain and it was beginning to affect some predatory birds. So, yeah, despite the fact that it probably saved tens of thousands of people around the world every year by limiting the spread of malaria, it was hurting a few birds; so it obviously had to go...

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Actually, no it did not build up in the food chain as described. And no, it did not affect the birds as described.

The claim it was causing bird's eggshells to become fragile was based on a single, bogus study. Seems the calcium in the birds' diet was interfering with the researchers' tests in some fashion, so they took it out of the birds' diet.
Pop quiz, what are eggshells made out of?

Reports of thinning eggshells in the wild were rare and circumstantial, and ignored the fact that one of the causes of thinner eggshells is anxiety and stress due to people fiddle-faddling with their nests so much.

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The eggshell thing can be directly linked to the massive over use of DDT. And by massive overuse I mean drenching the countryside in it regularly. The theory being DDT was harmless. :p

If they had used the suggested dosages there wouldn't even have been the eggshell thinning that was seen.

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Yes, that is what they claimed was happening.

This, I repeat, was not the case. It wasn't the DDT causing the thinning eggshells in their tests, it was the RESEARCHERS.

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"It may not be "good"(it is a poison after all)..."

It doesn't kill plants, birds, reptiles, fish, mammals, or even most other species of arthropods. It is a targeted neurotoxin that requires careful usage lest the various insect species become immune to it. Humans can ingest it, breathe it in aerosol form, and be bathed in it without ill effect. If that constitutes a poison, it's a pretty damn benign one. Of course, calling anything a "poison" is a bit shaky because of the simple fact that poison is the dose, not the substance. A liter of water a day will make you healthy; ten gallons will poison you. A tablet of aspirin can relieve pain and is actually used as long-term treatment for heart conditions; large quantities will destroy your liver. An apple dusted with Alar is fresh and delicious; eating Alar by the metric tonne will kill you, although more from overeating than the poisonous qualities of the substance itself. Poison is the dose.

"But, like mercury, it can build up in the food chain..."

Biomagnification doesn't happen with DDT.

"...and it was beginning to affect some predatory birds."

Which was purely from overuse. Disease-control uses don't cause the ill effects to birds; when you start heedlessly mass-spraying it all over the place (my Dad remembers growing up and having "misting" trucks driving up and down the street dousing everyone with DDT to ward off nuisance mosquitoes), ill effects crop up.

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which, it turned out, was a lie.
The accusations leveled about DDT were false. It was, and is, one of the safest pesticides ever discovered by man.

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Al Gore, waving his hand: "That is not the Holocaust we're looking for."

Edited at 2012-05-12 05:04 pm (UTC)

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