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DDT causes significant health problems for humans, including infertility, birth defects, cancer, and brain damage to children. It also wreaks havoc on various w

DDT causes significant health problems for humans, including infertility, birth defects, cancer, and brain damage to children. It also wreaks havoc on various wild animals. It should be reserved as a last resort and not used indiscriminately. While killing mosquitos has saved many lives, DDT has also ruined many lives. Pretty much everyone involved in selling the virtues of DDT has their own questionable motives, and one of the biggest funders of pro-DDT messaging has been the tobacco industry (because they thought this message could undermine public support for environmentalism and government regulation).

Spooky23 4y ago
For some reason it has become a thing for reactionary conservatives. I was at a school board meeting and one of the parent rights robots was reading some petition to use DDT in the fields, because he was bit by a horsefly while watching a baseball game.
- Gordonjcp 4y ago
  > one of the parent rights robots was reading some petition to use DDT in the fields, because he was bit by a horsefly while watching a baseball game. Inject them with a hefty tot of DDT and they'll never get bitten by a horsefly again.
joecool1029 4y ago
> DDT causes significant health problems for humans, including infertility, birth defects, cancer, and brain damage to children. Source even one of these claims. Human exposure to DDT is a suspected carcinogen but has never been conclusively linked. http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/ddtgen.pdf http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/ddtgen.pdf I would argue that it was good business in wealthy countries to eliminate DDT as it was off-patent. This coupled with it being being highly persistent made it cheap to use on mosquito nets and screens. The successors that entered the market after DDT was banned (chiefly neonicotinoids) have caused new problems like honeybee colony collapse.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- jacobolus 4y ago
  Disclaimer #1: I am not a doctor or medical researcher. This is just some of what turns up with some cursory skimming of journal abstracts. I have not deeply investigated these studies. There are also plenty of studies that were inconclusive or failed to find a link between DDT and this or that health problem. Disclaimer #2: Using DDT to control mosquitos clearly also saves many lives, and almost everyone agrees that it should not be completely discarded in cases where there is no better alternative. But it also shouldn’t be used indiscriminately or treated as benign. Impaired semen quality: https://imedea.uib-csic.es/master/cambioglobal/Modulo_IV_cod101610/articulos/aneck-hahnetal2007%20j%20and.pdf https://imedea.uib-csic.es/master/cambioglobal/Modulo_IV_cod... Low birth weight and small head circumference: https://www.nature.com/articles/pr200749 https://www.nature.com/articles/pr200749 Genital malformation: https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/16061/Bornman_DDT%282010%29.pdf?sequence=1 https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/16061/Born... Spontaneous abortion: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11557181/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11557181/ https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ehpm/8/3/8_3_77/_pdf https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ehpm/8/3/8_3_77/_pdf Autism: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6377859/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6377859/ Cognitive problems for young children: https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/164/10/955/162380 https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/164/10/955/162380 Cognitive problems among the elderly: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412014003250 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041201... Chronic nervous system effects: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140673600042495 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01406... https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/indhealth1963/22/3/22_3_199/_pdf https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/indhealth1963/22/3/22_3... Alzheimer’s disease: https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad150024 https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-... https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/1816015/?amp=1 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/1... Impaired thyroid function: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2727265/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2727265/ Breast cancer: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.10260 https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.10260 https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/111/8/803/5299924 https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/111/8/803/5299924 Testicular cancer: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2936455/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2936455/ Pancreatic cancer: https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article-abstract/84/10/764/917384 https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article-abstract/84/10/764/917... Diabetes and hypertension: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1438463921001802 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S14384... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935106002350 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00139... https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-014-3371-0 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-014-3371-0 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8477732/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8477732/ There are also a bunch of studies of harmful effects in lab mammals. (And of course it is super toxic to insects and bio-accumulates harming various other animals, notably birds of prey.)

Spooky23 4y ago

For some reason it has become a thing for reactionary conservatives. I was at a school board meeting and one of the parent rights robots was reading some petition to use DDT in the fields, because he was bit by a horsefly while watching a baseball game.

Gordonjcp 4y ago
> one of the parent rights robots was reading some petition to use DDT in the fields, because he was bit by a horsefly while watching a baseball game. Inject them with a hefty tot of DDT and they'll never get bitten by a horsefly again.

joecool1029 4y ago

> DDT causes significant health problems for humans, including infertility, birth defects, cancer, and brain damage to children. Source even one of these claims. Human exposure to DDT is a suspected carcinogen but has never been conclusively linked. http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/ddtgen.pdf http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/ddtgen.pdf I would argue that it was good business in wealthy countries to eliminate DDT as it was off-patent. This coupled with it being being highly persistent made it cheap to use on mosquito nets and screens. The successors that entered the market after DDT was banned (chiefly neonicotinoids) have caused new problems like honeybee colony collapse.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
jacobolus 4y ago
Disclaimer #1: I am not a doctor or medical researcher. This is just some of what turns up with some cursory skimming of journal abstracts. I have not deeply investigated these studies. There are also plenty of studies that were inconclusive or failed to find a link between DDT and this or that health problem. Disclaimer #2: Using DDT to control mosquitos clearly also saves many lives, and almost everyone agrees that it should not be completely discarded in cases where there is no better alternative. But it also shouldn’t be used indiscriminately or treated as benign. Impaired semen quality: https://imedea.uib-csic.es/master/cambioglobal/Modulo_IV_cod101610/articulos/aneck-hahnetal2007%20j%20and.pdf https://imedea.uib-csic.es/master/cambioglobal/Modulo_IV_cod... Low birth weight and small head circumference: https://www.nature.com/articles/pr200749 https://www.nature.com/articles/pr200749 Genital malformation: https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/16061/Bornman_DDT%282010%29.pdf?sequence=1 https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/16061/Born... Spontaneous abortion: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11557181/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11557181/ https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ehpm/8/3/8_3_77/_pdf https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ehpm/8/3/8_3_77/_pdf Autism: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6377859/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6377859/ Cognitive problems for young children: https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/164/10/955/162380 https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/164/10/955/162380 Cognitive problems among the elderly: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412014003250 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041201... Chronic nervous system effects: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140673600042495 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01406... https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/indhealth1963/22/3/22_3_199/_pdf https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/indhealth1963/22/3/22_3... Alzheimer’s disease: https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad150024 https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-... https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/1816015/?amp=1 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/1... Impaired thyroid function: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2727265/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2727265/ Breast cancer: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.10260 https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.10260 https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/111/8/803/5299924 https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/111/8/803/5299924 Testicular cancer: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2936455/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2936455/ Pancreatic cancer: https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article-abstract/84/10/764/917384 https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article-abstract/84/10/764/917... Diabetes and hypertension: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1438463921001802 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S14384... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935106002350 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00139... https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-014-3371-0 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-014-3371-0 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8477732/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8477732/ There are also a bunch of studies of harmful effects in lab mammals. (And of course it is super toxic to insects and bio-accumulates harming various other animals, notably birds of prey.)