ARSHA GUPTA 5-C

What is DDT
Its DICHLORO-DIPHENYL-TRICHOLOETHANE (scientific
name )

• DDT is an organochlorine insecticide that was first synthesized

in 1874

• DDT was a commonly-used pesticide for insect control in the

United States until it was canceled in 1972 by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• DDT tends to persist in the environment and become

concentrated in animals at the head of the food chain
Why was DDT used?
• DDT was initially used by the military in WW II to
control malaria, typhus, body lice, and bubonic plague
• Cases of malaria fell from 400,000 in 1946 to virtually
none in 1950 .
• DDT is still used today in South America, Africa, and
Asia for this purpose.
• Farmers used DDT on a variety of food crops in the
United States and worldwide.
• DDT was also used in buildings for pest control.
• The reason why DDT was so widely used was because
it is effective, relatively inexpensive to manufacture,
and lasts a long time in the environment
How people get
exposed to DDT
• People are most likely to be exposed to
DDT from foods, including meat, fish,
and dairy products.
• DDT can be absorbed by eating,
breathing, or touching products
contaminated with DDT.
• In the body, DDT is converted into
several breakdown products called
metabolites (DDE). DDT and DDE are
stored in the body’s fatty tissues.
• In pregnant women, DDT and DDE can
be passed to the fetus. Both chemicals
are found in breast milk, resulting in
exposure to nursing infants

DDT's Effect on the Environment
DDT’s breakdown product is
DDTr
Since DDT is fat soluble, water
does not wash it away and it
remains in the soil where
crops were once treated with
DDT.  
DDT can still be detected in
water years after it was
introduced into a stream or
lake.
Land that contains DDTr
remnants cannot be used for
planting crops without danger
of food contamination.
Effect of DDT on small
animals & birds

DDT can affect the growth of an

organism as small as a microorganism

• in fish by disrupting important biological

processes
• in birds by damaging reproductive enzymes that
determine crucial biological processes
Effect of DDT on Humans

• Acute Health Effects:

Act as a depressant or a stimulant ,tremors, seizures, coma, and respiratory depression leading to
death, rashes or irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat .

• Chronic Health Effects:

Chronic DDT absorption results in storage in fatty tissues. Long-term exposure may affect the liver, bone
marrow, and brain.

• Reproductive Effects:

DDT has reverse effects on reproductive outcome, either by causing birth defects, increasing pregnancy
complications, or by affecting fertility.
Uses of DDT

Can be used to kill disease-

bearing lice

DDT can be used as a repellant -

Sprayed on walls of buildings to
repel insects.

Disease insects can carry are

malaria, sleeping sickness, and
yellow fever
How does DDT enter and
affects the body

• DDT is sprayed into the air or onto plants

to control pests like mosquitoes
• Humans or animals consume the DDT
directly from control insects , the plants,
or from water that the DDT has run into .
• DDT accumulates in the body and
dissolves in fat continuing to gather until
fat is saturated with DDT.
• It affects the nervous system by interfering
with the nerve impulses that people or
animals have .
 Why was DDT used ?

DDT WAS USED FREQUENTLY BECAUSE IT WAS INSECTS GENERALLY DID NOT DEVELOP A SPECIMENS TREATED WITH DDT WERE DUSTED
ONE OF LEAST EXPENSIVE PESTICIDES AVAILABLE RESISTANCE TO IT. WITH DDT POWDER OR SPRAYED WITH A
AND REMAINED EFFECTIVE FOR LONG PERIODS. SOLUTION CONTAINING DDT.
Important term in DDT -Bioaccumulation
• DDT can’t be dissolved in water, but it is easily dissolved
in organic solvents, fats, or oils. Since it can dissolve in
fats, DDT can build up in the fatty tissues of animals
exposed to it. This accumulated build-up is known
as bioaccumulation.
• DDT is described by the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) as a persistent, bio accumulative toxin.
• Due to this bioaccumulation, DDT remains in the food
chain. It moves from crayfish, frogs, and fish into the
bodies of animals that eat them. The bodies of animals
near the top of the food chain, such as predatory birds
like eagles, hawks, pelicans, condors and other meat-
eating birds, often have the highest DDT levels.
Precautions to prevent
consumption of DDT
• Workers should wear protective clothing (like neoprene gloves and an
apron) and a self-contained or supplied-air respirator with a full facepiece
and operated in positive-pressure mode.
• Practice personal hygiene when handling this pesticide, such as the daily
cleaning of protective equipment and clothing and washing of exposed
skin with soap and water before eating and at the end of the workday.
•  the implementation of alternative cropping systems that are less
dependent on pesticides.
• the development of new pesticides with novel modes of action and
improved safety profiles.
• the improvement of the already used pesticide formulations towards safer
formulations (e.g., microcapsule suspensions) could reduce the adverse
effects of farming and particularly the toxic effects of pesticides.
DDT Production
 Bibliography

• DDT - A Brief History and Status | US EPA

• DDT_FactSheet.pdf (cdc.gov)

• What Is DDT - Introduction, Structure, Properties, Uses and Effec

ts (vedantu.com)

• Microsoft Word - ddtgen052517.docx (orst.edu)

• What is DDT - Pesticide Effects and Risks (birthdefects.org)