Environmental Effects Of Ddt Research Paper

Environmental effects of DDT DichloroDiphenylTrichloroethane (DDT) is an insecticide that was used to kill mosquitos and other insects between 1939 and 1972. It is a colorless, tasteless, crystal like and almost odorless chemical. DDT, C14H9Cl5 (Figure 1), was discovered by the chemist Zeidler in 1874 (DDT, 2000). In 1939, Paul Herman Müller (a chemist), discovered the insecticidal properties of DDT. Paul was looking for a pesticide so powerful that even if an insect flew over it it would die. He conducted his experiment by putting blue bottle flies in a glass box with different chemicals applied to the glass. Then he would see how they would react and DDT worked remarkably well. In fact, it continued to kill the flies even after the glass was washed. For the glass to actually be sterile it had to undergo immense washing and had to be aired out for at least one month. Müller was awarded the Noble prize for Physiology and medicine in 1948 for his great discovery (Borel, 2013).
Since Müller discovered the insecticidal properties of DDT, it has been used worldwide as an effective insecticide. It was used in WWII as an insect repellent against Malaria and Typhus-carrying insects in the US, Germany and other countries. The soldiers would run through a continuous spray of DDT (Figure 2), so that there was a thin …show more content…
After DDT was banned, a study was conducted to test the relationship between DDT and Alzheimers disease progression. Scientists gathered blood samples from 86 people with Alzheimers and 79 people without (control group). Surprisingly the DDT levels in 70% of the control group and 80% of the infected group were high. The level of DDT in the people that had Alzheimers was an outstanding 3.8 times more than normal. This is most likely due to the long half-life of DDT. With more research, scientist found the threshold of the disease was more advanced with the people that were exposed to DDT (Richardson,