>I think WHO indiscriminately spraying DDT is bigger news. When DDT was first introduced they did studies on cats, humans, dogs. It can kill a cat, but the dos

>I think WHO indiscriminately spraying DDT is bigger news. When DDT was first introduced they did studies on cats, humans, dogs. It can kill a cat, but the dose needs to be extremely high, reported as 300mg/kg. (one of the sources on it: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2057789/pdf/brmedj03890-0003.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2057789/pdf/brm... ) You'll note the article mentioned dieldrin was used briefly. Less than 25mg/kg is enough to kill a cat: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0041008X67901007 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/004100... . It also bioaccumulates and is extremely persistent. DDT was sprayed consistently because it was known to be fairly safe for mammals, cats have a shit liver for breaking down most pesticides but I still think the dieldrin is the real culprit here since there's documentation of its use and it's way nastier to mammals. EDIT: Yeah, consistent with what I was thinking, I looked for measurements of the various pesticide residues in the environment around Malaysia: https://enviro2.doe.gov.my/ekmc/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/1384783396-1-s2.0-S1474817707070143-main.pdf https://enviro2.doe.gov.my/ekmc/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/1... (spoiler: aldrin and dieldrin were often found in higher concentrations than DDT and as mentioned before have much greater toxicity)