Question

The pesticide DDT was first made by a chemical company in 1939 and became widely used worldwide. Evidence that DDT builds up in animal tissues and may cause health problems such as cancer and damage to organs, as detailed in Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, resulted in DDT being banned in the US in 1972. How do you suppose science and society were affected by the ban of DDT?

Answer 1

DDT ban was good for society, as it was posing major threats to the health of all the organisms and could cause various forms of cancers, male infertility, low birth rates, miscarriages, damages in the liver and nervous system, as well as developmental delay. DDT was able to accumulate into body fat, thyroid, adrenal glands, liver, and kidneys. This was causing accumulation of DDT in the food chain and was a concern for both social and scientific societies. Its ban has mitigated these threats but control of mosquitoes still remains a challenge and scientists are since then focussing on the development of ew strategies for controlling the same.