DDT has it been found not dangerous as thought

[MossRoad]

Virtually no substance is totally harmless. Water, in proper doses is as lethal as arsenic. The problem with DDT, in my opinion, is not that it had dangers, risks or harmful effects on people and/or the environment. The problem with the story of DDT is that it was vilified and removed from the market before viable alternatives were available and that the woman (I don't remember her name) who led the exposure of DDT's harms and misuse was and is seen as a world hero. It is rarely that simple. Thanks to her work, much of the damage to our environment done by DDT has been reversed. But that is not where the story ends. It is estimated that thousands if not millions of people died in third world countries of malaria and insect vector borne diseases because there was no cheap effective alternative to DDT. Maybe that is urban legend but I don't think so. The moral of the story is that there are actions and there are reactions just as there are risks and benefits. When we over-react to a problem, particularly in some fervor to advance whatever cause we are supporting, unintended consequences can be far more harmful than the harm we are trying to fix. And while it is terrible that DDT caused a decline in raptor numbers due to the effects of soft shells, that, in reality, is meaningless when half your family dies of malaria.

I don't think DDT was ever banned for use in third world countries for control of malaria. For that matter, its still recommended by the World Health Organization for indoor use to control malaria.
DDT - A Brief History and Status | Ingredients Used in Pesticide Products | US EPA

 

[MossRoad]

The book was titled 'Silent Spring' by Rachel Carson in 1962.

Yay! The fog truck's coming, the fog truck's coming!!

 

[MossRoad]

My sisters have fond memories of my grandmother being a hard-core organic gardener. Little did they know that when I was helping grandma clean out her garage she about had a cow when I went to throw out or box of DDT powder... "It's the only thing that kills the bugs". :laughing:

 

[newbury]

I don't think DDT was ever banned for use in third world countries for control of malaria. For that matter, its still recommended by the World Health Organization for indoor use to control malaria.
DDT - A Brief History and Status | Ingredients Used in Pesticide Products | US EPA

Please do not introduce actual fact into an argument when people are propagating their beliefs.

The sad thing is, nothing has changed since DDT was banned. The people who scream the loudest, and think the least, get the attention. They want zero risk, and could care less about the unintended consequences. They quote so called studies that are more hype than fact and argue ad nauseum until everyone who disagrees with them is bludgeoned into silence, often by the force of government.

Reads like the method they used to convince Powell that Iraq had WMD and yellow cake.

 

[MossRoad]

The eye-opener for me was when I was a kid, the neighbor (crusty guy that kept kids toys if they landed in his yard type of fellow) had his trees sprayed for bugs. Why? Because bugs are bad, I guess. Anyway, this old 1940's style flatbed truck with a rotating platform on the bed that had what looked like a directional orchard sprayer mounted next to an open seat where the operator could control up-down and left right with levers. It was LOUD and could spray a fog to the top of the oaks, so about 100'. Anyhow, cranky neighbor guy directs the spray guy to spray OUR trees from HIS yard. Within minutes, every insect known to man was falling on our patio and driveway, yard, house, cars, etc... It killed everything and was completely non-discriminatory. Mom had a cow. Dad came home and he and the neighbor had some heated words. And the whole spraying thing was watched by pretty much every kid on the block and we had great fun picking up weird bugs we'd never seen before.

The problem with pretty much every miracle cure for every thing is over use by the public. Insecticides, fertilizer, antibiotics, you name it.... too much of a good thing.

 

[MossRoad]

I have fond childhood memories of lying in bed early in the morning, the sun streaming though the curtains of my open bedroom window, being awakened by a sweet smell and the shoook, shoook, shoook sound of my dad dusting the foundation of the house with chlordane in a pump canister applicator. I'd run to to the window and ask "Whatcha doing?" and then go out and "help" my pops. :laughing:

 

[groundcover]

Better say your goodbyes Moss !:laughing:
I used to use the Stihl blower with the spray tank for Chlordane!
I had my downstairs bathroom set up man cave style,antique tools and two 1lb boxes of DDT, one marked $.99!
For some reason gf thought different and disbanded it

 

[MossRoad]

Better say your goodbyes Moss !:laughing:
I used to use the Stihl blower with the spray tank for Chlordane!
I had my downstairs bathroom set up man cave style,antique tools and two 1lb boxes of DDT, one marked $.99!
For some reason gf thought different and disbanded it

Yeah, it probably accounts for the extra large cranium and third eye. It was either the chlordane, DDT or the chemicals my dad was exposed to in WWII as a chemical warfare defense officer (one of many duties) in the south Pacific. I tell my siblings because of dad, we are all mutants. Thanks dad! :laughing:

 

[groundcover]

Wow lucky you got by with just the third eye ! I grew up on a tree nursery and DDT was the least of the problems! Then again my dad passed at 51 from lung cancer and he had quite smoking years before. I never thought I would last this long !

 

[bigtiller]

This is the first time I have ever heard anyone complaining about the 1972 bad on DDT.

There sure is a lot more eagles around now than there were in the '70's.