The Long Shadow of DDT

The compound DDT (Dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane) was discovered to act

as an insecticide during the 1930s. Its first wide use during World War II,
killing lice, ticks, and malaria-bearing mosquitoes, unquestionably prevented a
great deal of suffering and many deaths. In fact, the scientist who first
recognized DDT’s insecticidal effects, Paul Muller, was subsequently awarded
the Nobel Prize in medicine for his work. Farmers undertook wholesale
sprayings with DDT to control pests in food crops. The chemical was regarded
as a panacea for insect problems; cheery advertisements in the popular press
promoted its use in the home.
Then the complications arose. One was that whole insect populations began to
develop some resistance to DDT. Each time DDT was used, those individual
insects with more natural resistance to its effects would survive in greater
proportions than the population as a whole. The next generation would contain a
higher proportion of insects with some inherited resistance, who would, in turn,
survive the next spraying in greater numbers, and so on. This development of
resistance resulted in the need for stronger and stronger applications of DDT,
which ultimately favored the development of ever-tougher insect populations
that could withstand these higher doses. Insects’ short breeding cycles made it
possible for all of this to occur within a very few years.
Early on, DDT was also found to be quite toxic to tropical fish, which was not
considered a big problem. Moreover, it was believed that DDT would break
down fairly quickly in the environment. In fact, it did not. It is a persistent
chemical in the natural environment. Also, like the heavy metals, DDT is an
accumulative chemical. It is fat-soluble and builds up in the fatty tissues of
humans and animals. Fish not killed by DDT nevertheless accumulated
concentrated doses of it, which were passed on to fish-eating birds (shown in
figure).
Then another deadly effect of DDT was realized: It impairs calcium
metabolism. In birds, this effect was manifested in the laying of eggs with very
thin and fragile shells. Whole colonies of birds were wiped out, not because the
adult birds died, but because not a single egg survived long enough to hatch.
Robins picked up the toxin from DDT-bearing worms. Whole species were put
at risk. All of this prompted Rachel Carson to write Silent Spring in 1962,
warning of the insecticide’s long-term threat. Finally, the volume of data
demonstrating the toxicity of DDT to fish, birds, and valuable insects such as
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bees became so large that, in 1972, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
banned its use, except on a few minor crops and in medical emergencies (to
fight infestations of disease-carrying insects). So persistent is it in the
environment that twenty years later, fish often had detectable (though much
lower) levels of DDT in their tissues. Encouragingly, many wildlife populations
have recovered since DDT use in the United States was sharply curtailed. Still,
DDT continues to be applied extensively in other countries, with
correspondingly continued unfortunate side effects.

Biomagnification can increase DDT concentration a million times or more from water to predators
high up the food chain.

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