DICHLORODIPHENYLTICHLOROETHANE.

DDT meaning Dichlorodiphenyl Trichloroethane was one of the major organic chemicals that sparked  debates in the mid 20th century. Most especially because of the cure of malaria and some other health problems. According to Rachael Carsons's book, DDT causes damage to the man's body and other mammals both on land and on the sea and further spreading to some agricultural product we consume.

Despite the fact that a Swiss chemist in 1939 discovered the chemical could used as an insecticide and  to also cure malaria, the use of DDT was later banned in some countries in different parts of the world. Rachael Carson proposed that the chemical even though it had the properties to cure diseases and other things,  could also cause damage to man's organ and his body. Organs like the Liver, kidneys and lungs are among  the ones vulnerable to this chemical if come in contact with and could further result into cancer. She further mentioned that the chemical also affected the ocean life and threatened the US bird extinctions. However  these claims by Carson were also addressed by Robert Zurin in his book The truth about DDT and the  silent spring.

For example, about the case of DDT causing cancer in the human, Robert explained that between 1960 and 1970, a normal American can ingest DDT in food at around 30 micrograms per day ( 1gram=1,000 kilograms=1,000,000 micrograms). Elaborating on this, he mentioned that the evidence of this fact of cancer are false as many studies on different kinds of cancer like lungs cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer and more did not show a relative association between the exposure to the chemical DDT.  This meant that even if some one had consume food that contains DDT chemicals in them, the results of the test carried out showed that other factors caused these factors and not the DDT chemical itself.

DDT was a very useful chemical in fact when the chemical was banned, the increase in death rate from malaria alone increased immediately in different countries in Africa. Although DDT can be dangerous, according to what Carson Proposed, but it can also be useful in the same way.

For more on Robert Zurin's points about the DDT and its use, Please visit http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-truth-about-ddt-and-silent-spring

S.O.O