DDT makes a comeback in effort to halt malaria

[Michaelangelica]

This is ironic
India is amajor manufacturer of DDT

`DDT failed to check malaria in India'

Special Correspondent

Toxics Link shocked over WHO's clean chit to DDT

# `Overriding chemical dependency, without managing how DDT is currently used, is the reason we have more malaria'
# The global toxics treaty, adopted by 129 countries, calls for a phase out of DDT

NEW DELHI: Joining growing international criticism of the clean chit given by the World Health Organisation to Dichlorodiphenyl Trichloroethane (DDT), Toxics Link on Tuesday expressed regret over this turnaround by the world health body. It said the pesticide had failed as an effective anti-malaria strategy in India besides creating chemical dependency and causing adverse health and environmental impact.

Ravi Agarwal, Director, Toxics Link, said: ``Overriding chemical dependency, without managing how DDT is currently used, is the reason we have more malaria. Lack of DDT quality control leading to resistance, unsafe spraying practices, lack of storage, leakage to agriculture, and poor disposal of waste are major unaddressed issues. Besides, any new assessment needs to be made public before WHO pushes DDT at this time, when there is already a persistent organic pollutants (POPs) global agreement to phase it out."

http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/27/stories/2006092701891500.htm

[Michaelangelica]

An interesting link to an organisation called "Beyond Pesticides"
http://www.beyondpesticides.org/index.html

Also this disturbing link
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ge_id=1774

Chemical cocktail blamed for soaring breast cancer rate
By FIONA McRAE Last updated at 00:01am on 18th October 2006

Comments Reader comments (0)
breast cancer examination

Breast cancer: The number of cases has almost doubled in just a generation
Health news

Cocktails of gender-bending chemicals, found in everyday products from CD cases to babies' bottles, may be to blame for soaring rates of breast cancer, scientists have warned.

Experts fear the chemicals, used in pesticides, cosmetics, electrical goods and plastics, have the power to trigger the cancer which claims the lives of more than 1,000 British women a month.

The warning follows official figures which show the number of cases of breast cancer has almost doubled in a generation.

[Michaelangelica]

Forget it all; relax and go fishing ?!

BRANTLEY: Anglers are to practice catch and release for all fish here as high levels of DDT were found in several fish. We had no reports from anglers again this past week.

http://www.currentargus.com/ci_4513538

[Michaelangelica]

Hooray for DDT's Life-Saving Comeback
by Health Spa @ Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:00:02 -0600
After more than 30 years and tens of millions dead—mostly children—the WorldHealth Organization (WHO) has ended its ban on DDT. DDT is the most effective imti-mosquito, anti-malaria pesticide known. But thanks lo the worldwide

http://besthealth411.com/blogs/Health-Spa/

[murray]

am i missing something? why the hell use it if insects build resistance to it relatively quickly?

Mosquito resistance against DDT

In some areas DDT has lost much of its effectiveness, especially in areas such as India where outdoor transmission is the predominant form. According to one article by V.P. Sharma, "The declining effectiveness of DDT is a result of several factors which frequently operate in tandem. The first and the most important factor is vector resistance to DDT. All populations of the main vector, An. culicifacies have become resistant to DDT." In India, with its outdoor sleeping habits and frequent night duties, "the excito-repellent effect of DDT, often reported useful in other countries, actually promotes outdoor transmission."[44]

One old study that attempts to quantify the lives saved due to banning agricultural use of DDT, and thereby the spread of DDT resistance, has been published in the scientific literature: "Correlating the use of DDT in El Salvador with renewed malaria transmission, it can be estimated that at current rates each kilo of insecticide added to the environment will generate 105 new cases of malaria."[45]

According to a pesticide industry newsletter, DDT is obsolete for malarial prevention in India not only owing to concerns over its toxicity, but because it has largely lost its effectiveness. Use of DDT for agricultural purposes was banned in India in 1989, and its use for anti-malarial purposes has been declining. Use of DDT in urban areas of India has halted completely. Food supplies and eggshells of large predator birds still show high DDT levels.[46] Parasitology journal articles confirm that malarial vector mosquitoes have become resistant to DDT and HCH in most parts of India.[47] Nevertheless, DDT is still manufactured and used in India.[48] One study concludes "The overall results of the study revealed that DDT is still a viable insecticide in indoor residual spraying owing to its effectivity in well supervised spray operation and high excito-repellency factor."[13]

Advocates for using DDT against malaria states that "Limited use of DDT for public health has continued to be effective in areas where it is used inside homes. As DDT's chief property is repellency, mosquitoes often avoid the DDT treated homes altogether. In so doing, they avoid the exposure that promotes resistance as well. DDT resistance exists in West Africa and in other malarial areas, such as India. Isolated occurrences of DDT resistance have occurred in South Africa, and South Africa continues to monitor for resistance. As the various Departments of Health that use it carefully control DDT use, it is unlikely that resistance will emerge as a major problem."

[Michaelangelica]

As usual Murry an amazing post.

Here is some more food for thought.
No phytoplankton =No humans

http://www.hancock.forests.org.au/docs/chlorine.htm

3.3.10 Plankton. Suppression of photosynthesis in phytoplankton exposed to low levels of PCBs has been reported. 98
Chronic exposure to PCBs has the ability to alter populations of the marine microlayer through the disruption of egg and larvae development.
99 The microlayer is a film of natural fats and oils on the surface of the ocean - it is a highly productive ecosystem and under extreme threat of long term damage due to the fat-loving nature of organochlorines.

See also
http://forums.hypography.com/medical-sc ... -used.html

[Michaelangelica]

Safety (MSDS) data for DDT
Hazard: toxic Hazard: environmental hazard

General

[b] Synonyms:[/b]
2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-1,1,1-trichloroethane, alpha,alpha-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-beta,beta,beta-trichloroethane, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, chlorophenothane, p,p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, 4,4'-DDT, 4,4'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, 1,1-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-2,2,2-trichloroethane, 1,1-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-2,2,2-trichloroethane, diphenyltrichloroethane, 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-di(4-chlorophenyl)ethane, numerous trade and other non-systematic names, including those given below. (Note: The use of DDT has been largely discontinued, so most - perhaps all - of these trade names are no longer used.) anofex, p,p'-DDT, dicophane, didigam, didimac, ENT 1,506, estonate, genitox, gesafid, gesarol, gyron, ixodex, NCI-C00464, neocid, pentachlorin, santobane, trichlorobis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane, 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane, zeidane, zerdane, agritan, arkotine, azotox, 1,1'-(2,2,2-trichloroethylidene)bis(4-chlorobenzene), bosan, supra, boviderm, chlorphenothan, chlorophenotoxum, citox, clofenotane, dedlo, deoval, detox, detoxan, dibovan, dodat, dykol, gesafid, gesapon, gesarex, guesapon, havero-extra, hildit, ivoran, kopsol, micro, DDT 75, mutoxin, NA 2761, OMS 16, parachlorocium, peb1, pentech, ppzeidan
Use: insecticide, formerly one of the most widely used insecticides in the world; now used in only limited areas because of environmental concerns
Molecular formula: C14H9Cl5
CAS No: 50-29-3
EINECS No:

Physical data

Appearance: colourless to white crystalline powder
Melting point: 108 - 109 C
Boiling point: 260 C
Vapour density:
Vapour pressure:
Density (g cm-3): 1.56
Flash point: 165 C
Explosion limits:
Autoignition temperature:
Water solubility: very slight

Stability

Stable. Combustible. Incompatible with strong oxidizing agents, iron and aluminium and their salts, alkalies.

Toxicology

Poison if swallowed. May be harmful if inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Absorption is considerably enhanced by the presence of oils. Possible human carcinogen. Human mutagenic effects. May cause reproductive damage. May act as a systemic poison. Unlikely to be fatal on its own, but the toxic effects of this chemical appear to be enhanced when exposure simultaneously includes other chemicals.

DDT and its degradation products, particularly DDE, are stored in fat in the body, and this can lead to a total body load of chemical which is potentially much greater than the fatal dose. This stored material is removed only gradually from the body.

Toxicity data
(The meaning of any toxicological abbreviations which appear in this section is given here.)
ORL-RAT LD50 87 mg kg-1
SKN-RAT LD50 1931 mg kg-1
ORL-HMN LDLO 500 mg kg-1 (though far lower figures are also quoted)
SCU-RAT LD50 1500 mg kg-1
ORL-MUS LD50 135 mg kg-1
ORL-RBT LD50 250 mg kg-1

Risk phrases
(The meaning of any risk phrases which appear in this section is given here.)

Transport information

(The meaning of any UN hazard codes which appear in this section is given here.)
UN No 2761. Hazard class 6.1. Packing group III.

Environmental information

A serious environmental hazard due to bioaccumulation and transport up the food chain. Concentrations in animals near the top of the food chain (such as predatory birds) may become high enough in areas in which DDT has been heavily used, to have devastating effects upon reproductive ability.
Degrades extremely slowly in the environment and is removed very slowly from animal tissue.

Personal protection

Safety glasses, gloves, good ventilation. Treat as a possible carcinogen. Note that use of DDT as an insecticide is banned in most countries.

Safety phrases
(The meaning of any safety phrases which appear in this section is given here.)

[Return to Physical & Theoretical Chemistry Lab. Safety home page.]

This information was last updated on March 29, 2005. We have tried to make it as accurate and useful as possible, but can take no responsibility for its use, misuse, or accuracy. We have not verified this information, and cannot guarantee that it is up-to-date.

Note also that the information on the PTCL Safety web site, where this page was hosted, has been copied onto many other sites, often without permission.
If you have any doubts about the veracity of the information that you are viewing, or have any queries, please check the URL that your web browser displays for this page. If the URL begins "http://ptcl.chem.ox.ac.uk/" or "http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/" the page is maintained by the Safety Officer in Physical Chemistry at Oxford University. If not, this page is a copy made by some other person and we have no responsibility for it.

cCopied, without permission,(because we all need to know) from:
http://www.physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/DD/DDT.html

[Michaelangelica]

Potentially Harmful Pesticides Found In All Human Subjects Tested

ScienceDaily (Jan. 6, 200 — A study carried out by researchers from the Department of Radiology and Physical Medicine of the University of Granada, in collaboration with the Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública, found that 100% of Spaniards analyzed had at least one kind of persistent organic compound (POC´s), substances internationally classified as potentially harmful to one’s health, in their bodies.
Analysis of 6 POC´s

The researchers analyzed the samples and measured 6 different POC concentration levels: DDE, a principal metabolite in DDT (a pesticide used in Spain until the 80´s);
hexachlorobenzene, a compound used as fungicide and currently released by industrial processes;
PCB’s: compounds related to industrial processes; and Hexaclorociclohexano, used as an insecticide and currently used in scabies and pediculosis treatment.

The study carried out by the University of Granada concluded that 100% of subjects analyzed had DDE in their bodies, a substance banned in Spain, and other very frequent components such as PCB-153 (present in 92% of people), HCB (91%), PCB-180 (90%), PCB-138 (86%9) and HCH (84%).

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 102807.htm

[Michaelangelica]

[Pakanohida]

India is one of the main manufacturers of DDT.

Yet they have such great organic pesticides such as as Neem.

I just don't understand what is going on. ????!!!

A corporation is making DDT and wants to sell it, that is what is going on. The people don't have control in many countries, the corporations do.