# DDT - Safe for Humans ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 17, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904 "2013-04-17T03:10:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/1 "2013-04-17T03:10:22Z")
> **[Was Rachel Carson a fraud and is DDT actually safe for humans?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343558/was-rachel-carson-a-fraud-and-is-ddt-actually-safe-for-humans)** I’m not going to disagree with anything anybody says. Regarding the specific question posed by the headline “is DDT actually safe for humans”, I thought I’d mention that one of my Great-Grandfathers was killed by DDT. Was spraying underneath the house, and exposed himself to very high levels for a fairly long time. No previous kidney or liver problems, just overwhelmed by the level of exposure. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/2 "2013-04-17T03:57:26Z")
I notice Cecil didn’t clarify that DDT is not, in fact, banned for all purposes. It’s still OK to be used for vector control (basically, killing malaria mosquitos), both within and outside the US. That actually prolongs its useful life as an insecticide, as more restricted use delays the development of resistance. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/3 "2013-04-17T13:32:25Z")
Anything in high enough dosage will be harmful (even water). Cecil mentioned [Dr. J. Gordon Edwards.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Gordon_Edwards_(entomologist_and_mountaineer)) Doc was my professor and a good friend (and the world is a lesser place after his passing). I personally saw him eat DDT by the spoonful on multiple occasions. He had a can of it on his desk that he would use for demonstration purposes. Didn’t do anything to him. He died of a heart attack in his mid-80’s while hiking in the glaciers. ---
**Author:** ![sittininlab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@sittininlab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sittininlab)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/4 "2013-04-17T14:22:20Z")
Anecdotes are not great for statistics. ---
**Author:** ![Blkshp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blkshp/32/7135_2.png) [@Blkshp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blkshp)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/5 "2013-04-18T04:01:31Z")
> [@mozchron](#): > > Anything in high enough dosage will be harmful (even water). > > Cecil mentioned [Dr. J. Gordon Edwards.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Gordon_Edwards_(entomologist_and_mountaineer)) Doc was my professor and a good friend (and the world is a lesser place after his passing). I personally saw him eat DDT by the spoonful on multiple occasions. He had a can of it on his desk that he would use for demonstration purposes. > > Didn’t do anything to him. He died of a heart attack in his mid-80’s while hiking in the glaciers. When Silent Spring was causing a furor I remember seing someone on television eating DDT. The first time this SD column ran I thought of that and wondered how the gentleman fared. I don’t think it was your professor that I saw, though. I vaguely recall that it was a government official – maybe the Secretary of Agriculture - who was demonstrating his contempt for the proposed (at the time) DDT ban. ---
**Author:** ![Anthony\_Kaye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anthony\_Kaye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anthony_Kaye)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/6 "2013-04-18T08:34:03Z")
Here in the UK the argument for DDT’s safety with birds of prey is pretty well cut and dried. Their populations plummeted due to eggshell thinning while DDT was available, but their populations started to recover after it was banned and now some species are almost reaching pest levels. The ban came in the nick of time. A few more years of its use and some species would have disappeared altogether. I am told that DDT is only locally persistent, which is why it is so useful in, for example, keeping properties mosquito free. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/7 "2013-04-19T11:53:57Z")
Yeah, who cares whether DDT is safe for an individual human to eat? It’s devastating to the environment, killing birds and other animals. ---
**Author:** ![Ackerman02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Ackerman02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ackerman02)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/8 "2013-04-22T04:07:10Z")
OK - it’s an old thread, but if malaria infects 300 to 500 million people annually, shouldn’t everyone have malaria by now? Or is it that 300 to 500 million people have malaria in any given year? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/9 "2013-04-22T04:20:35Z")
DDT is a tremendously effective insecticide with no equal. The problem was mainly that it was used in uncontrolled mega-bombing quantities. It should be reinstated with the same kinds of controls that most other 'cides are subject to, and kept out of the food chain. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/10 "2013-04-23T15:32:02Z")
> [@mozchron](#): > > Anything in high enough dosage will be harmful (even water). > > Cecil mentioned [Dr. J. Gordon Edwards.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Gordon_Edwards_(entomologist_and_mountaineer)) Doc was my professor and a good friend (and the world is a lesser place after his passing). I personally saw him eat DDT by the spoonful on multiple occasions. He had a can of it on his desk that he would use for demonstration purposes. > > Didn’t do anything to him. He died of a heart attack in his mid-80’s while hiking in the glaciers. When I was a wee one I lived on a military base with my parents. I remember a truck that drove down the street and sprayed DDT once a week. We (the kids) used to run and play in the fog of DDT sprayed behind the truck… We did this more times than I can count. I survived. But eating it. That’s a bit too much. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/11 "2013-04-23T15:39:34Z")
> [@Ackerman02](#): > > OK - it’s an old thread, but if malaria infects 300 to 500 million people annually, shouldn’t everyone have malaria by now? Or is it that 300 to 500 million people have malaria in any given year? It’s worse than it sounds actually. When you consider that 300-500 million people are infected each year, and that there are only about 7 billion people, you’d think that everyone would be infected somewhere between 14 and 23 years later. Only it doesn’t work like that- you have birth and death rates to take into account, and also that malaria is only endemic to certain areas of the world. What this means is that in some areas, almost everyone gets malaria, and it (and other things) kill them off at startling rates relative to what we’re used to. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/12 "2013-04-23T19:21:11Z")
From [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria): > [@](#): > > Malaria is typically diagnosed by the microscopic examination of blood using blood films, or with antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests. Modern techniques that use the polymerase chain reaction to detect the parasite’s DNA have also been developed, but these are not widely used in malaria-endemic areas due to their cost and complexity. The World Health Organization has estimated that in 2010, there were 219 million documented cases of malaria. That year, between 660,000 and 1.2 million people died from the disease,[1] many of whom were children in Africa. The actual number of deaths is not known with certainty, as accurate data is unavailable in many rural areas, and many cases are undocumented. Malaria is commonly associated with poverty and may also be a major hindrance to economic development. That’s pretty horrific…over 219 million DOCUMENTED cases, and between 660k-1.2 million known deaths, most of which were in Africa and were children. ---
**Author:** ![Grinfranklin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dbc845/32.png) [@Grinfranklin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grinfranklin)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/13 "2013-04-25T00:47:12Z")
The tragedy of DDT is that it was the primary tool against large infestations, especially in Africa. A large concentration of any pesticide will do you in (spray any wasp spray from WalMart in close quarters). Doing away with DDT doomed much of Africa to famine because the bugs ate the food. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/14 "2013-04-25T01:43:49Z")
The problem was the gross negligence seen in ignoring that evolution is still out there, Insects developed resistance to DDT and it seems that the organizations that employed DDT on a large scale did not consult biologists that were aware of evolution. > **[National Geographic on malaria](http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2007/06/national-geogra.html)** > [@](#): > > The National Geographic article makes several important points: (1) Malaria isn’t like viruses or bacteria. It is a parasite and has 5,000 genes and elaborate, devious strategies for dodging the immune system. No one has ever developed a successful vaccine for a parasite, so it is not surprising that this is so tough for malaria. (2) Malaria has been around far longer than humans, considering that primate, cows, birds, lizards, and pretty much everything else terrestrial seems to have one or more malaria species specializing on it. (3) The article, for once, actually sensitively discusses the issue of DDT use, and notes accurately (for once) that environmental groups and governmental agencies were not and are not opposed to intelligent use of DDT for malaria control. However, it still has one scientist repeating the anti-environmentalist propaganda that a (mythical) DDT ban killed tens of millions of children in malarious countries. This extremely serious claim is completely unsupported by any study as far as I know. See DDT Ban Myth and Putting Myths to Bed. ---
**Author:** ![chiwoowa9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@chiwoowa9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiwoowa9)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/15 "2013-05-04T08:58:39Z")
Pesticides are bad news. Period. Anyone who uses pesticides in their home or garden should have his/her head examined. Biologically we are all related. What is harmful to insects is bound to be harmful to fish, birds and humans as well. ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/16 "2013-05-06T18:14:24Z")
> [@chiwoowa9](#): > > What is harmful to insects is bound to be harmful to fish, birds and humans as well. Rubbish. There are plenty of things that are harmful to one type of creature without harming other types. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ddt-safe-for-humans/655904/17 "2013-05-08T16:28:27Z")
> [@Grinfranklin](#): > > Doing away with DDT doomed much of Africa to famine because the bugs ate the food. This isn’t true in any form. DDT is not banned in Africa. Famine in Africa is caused primarily by ethnic groups intentionally using it as a tool of war against other groups, and secondarily by drought (far the lesser cause).