Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Consequences of DDT Exposure Could Last Generations
scientific american ^

Posted on 07/12/2021 9:17:08 AM PDT by algore

Hailed as a miracle in the 1950s, the potent bug killer DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) promised freedom from malaria, typhus and other insect-borne diseases. Manufacturers promoted it as a “benefactor of all humanity” in advertisements that declared, “DDT Is Good for Me!” Americans sprayed more than 1.35 billion tons of the insecticide—nearly 7.5 pounds per person—on crops, lawns and pets and in their homes before biologist Rachel Carson and others sounded the alarm about its impacts on humans and wildlife. The fledgling U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT in 1972.

Friends and family often ask Barbara Cohn, an epidemiologist at Oakland's Public Health Institute, why she studies the effects of the long-banned pesticide. Her answer: DDT continues to haunt human bodies. In earlier studies, she found that the daughters of mothers exposed to the highest DDT levels while pregnant had elevated rates of breast cancer, hypertension and obesity.

Cohn's newest study, on the exposed women's grandchildren, documents the first evidence that DDT's health effects can persist for at least three generations. The study linked grandmothers' higher DDT exposure rates to granddaughters' higher body mass index (BMI) and earlier first menstruation, both of which can signal future health issues.

“This study changes everything,” says Emory University reproductive epidemiologist Michele Marcus, who was not involved in the new research. “We don't know if [other human-made, long-lasting] chemicals like PFAS will have multigenerational impacts—but this study makes it imperative that we look.” Only these long-term studies, Marcus says, can illuminate the full consequences of DDT and other biologically disruptive chemicals to help guide regulations.

(Excerpt) Read more at scientificamerican.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: ddt; scientificamerican
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-100 last
To: PIF

It actually kills the Flora in the intestines. Roundup is poison. I still remember the label telling users not to use it in the vegetable garden, and if you did to allow one year of letting it lay fallow before growing edibles once more.


81 posted on 07/12/2021 1:17:29 PM PDT by Glad2bnuts ((“If there are no absolutes by which to judge society, then society is absolute.” Francis Schaeffer,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Scrambler Bob

Lawsuits: “Diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma after using Roundup (glyphosate) weed killer? “


Lawsuits are a dime a dozen. You can get some docs to diagnose anything, if you pay them big bucks.

There is absolutely NO scientific credible evidence of any harm to any human. There are strong passions on both sides - particularity the enviro-wackos who use anecdotal stories as scientific fact, in order to shut down farming and landscaping, or likely to bring a lawsuit.

Whoever is on the defense in those cases needs to get people who have been studying the issue for years, all over the world with no proof of harm to humans, to testify.


82 posted on 07/12/2021 1:25:38 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: Glad2bnuts

It actually kills the Flora in the intestines. Roundup is poison. I still remember the label telling users not to use it in the vegetable garden, and if you did to allow one year of letting it lay fallow before growing edibles once more.

Sorry but you are wrong; whatever you read is also wrong - there is no proof of that. Just conjecture. Assumptions. There is no study that reports such a thing in humans who have ingested it like morons they are.

Glyphosate is not technically a poison; it is a gene-specific agent that attacks PLANT genes which humans lack. It totally dissipates in the soil after 3 days. Waiting a year is just silly. That is not an actual glyphosate label. Its a retail sticker. The sticker may tell you not to use it in your garden because the spray mists and some, no matter how careful you are, can get airborne and land on your sensitive vegetables, wilting or killing them.

That’s the same reason you do not spray it in a flower bed but pull the weeds by hand. Often commercial sites have flower beds which are turned prior to planting - before the flowers are planted some time may pass and weeds spring up. The weeds are usually sprayed dead a week before the flowers are planted, without harming the plants.


83 posted on 07/12/2021 1:38:13 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies]

To: phoneman08

Usually the commercial variety will also have a surfactant which helps the product stick to slippery leaves and become rain fast.

You can buy Surfactant separately and add it - just a tiny bit goes a long way - less that 1/8 oz

How fast it works depends on the brand - some are better than others - but avoid the powdered varieties. Also depends on the temperature and percentage you mix ; cold weather: 50-75deg would be 8-6oz gal, 75deg -up, 3-4oz gal; also mixing some Amine 400 2, 4-D in equal proportion seems to help take out those pesky tree seedlings that pop up in the early spring. Low percent Amine 400 2, 4-D does not kill grass. 6oz in early spring when chilly and 2 oz in summer per gallon.


84 posted on 07/12/2021 1:53:38 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: volunbeer

yup, african urban renewal...


85 posted on 07/12/2021 1:57:36 PM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. P144:1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Deepeasttx

the smell of the beginning of summer


86 posted on 07/12/2021 1:58:50 PM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. P144:1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Salamander

100%


87 posted on 07/12/2021 2:00:49 PM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. P144:1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: PIF

Great info. Thanks!

I used 4oz per gallon which was a bit strong but definitely works. I hadn’t considered temp.


88 posted on 07/12/2021 2:13:32 PM PDT by phoneman08 (qwiyrqweopigradfdz oncm,.dadfjl,dz )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: Chode

“every kid what rode his bike behind the foggers should be dead by now then...”

You would think so but instead I am to blame for my grand-daughters obesity. LoL!!!


89 posted on 07/12/2021 2:49:54 PM PDT by Spunky
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Spunky

because... patriarchy?


90 posted on 07/12/2021 3:10:26 PM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. P144:1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 89 | View Replies]

To: Da Coyote
I tend to agree that DDT is not a good thing,

The banning of DDT by the early EPA was the greatest hoax ever imposed on the world in the name of environmentalism.

100 Things You Should Know About DDT

91 posted on 07/12/2021 3:15:43 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: algore

B.S. Everything in Rachel Carson’s book was proven to be a lie. William Ruckelshaus was a radical environmentalist who banned DDT despite the scientific evidence and thereby murdered millions of people who have died from malaria.


92 posted on 07/12/2021 3:58:05 PM PDT by EastTexasTraveler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Chode

Not sure I understand what you are asking. “patriarchy?”

I was being facetious because it says; “The study linked grandmothers’ higher DDT exposure rates to granddaughters’ higher body mass index (BMI)


93 posted on 07/12/2021 5:05:09 PM PDT by Spunky
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies]

To: algore

Not buying it.


94 posted on 07/12/2021 5:50:02 PM PDT by Basket_of_Deplorables (Convention Of States is our only hope now! Desantis 2024!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Chode

“every kid what rode his bike behind the foggers should be dead by now then...”

Wellll..... that might explain why I’m abnormal from the rest of the sheep... er people.


95 posted on 07/12/2021 6:18:57 PM PDT by LastDayz (A blunt and brazen Texan. I will not be assimilated.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Spunky

instead I am to blame for my grand-daughters obesity. LoL!!!

your fault=patriarchy...


96 posted on 07/12/2021 6:50:22 PM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. P144:1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 93 | View Replies]

To: LastDayz

you too eh?


97 posted on 07/12/2021 6:50:56 PM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. P144:1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 95 | View Replies]

To: G Larry
#14 Here is your dad running away from the crop duster. You kids are just out of frame....

Blnk
98 posted on 07/12/2021 10:11:27 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (I need more money. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: phoneman08

I hadn’t considered temp.


Temperature is important because the root system needs to be active. During a sustained period in the Spring of 50 degree or lower, the take up will be slow, or not at all; your weeds will wave “HI” when you check. Wait until you see the forecast showing the weekly temps rising above 50.

In the Fall, once the temps become 50 or lower, roots systems become increasingly inactive until the plants go dormant.


99 posted on 07/13/2021 3:47:10 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 88 | View Replies]

To: minnesota_bound

LOL!


100 posted on 07/13/2021 6:52:27 AM PDT by G Larry (Force the Universities to use their TAX FREE ENDOWMENTS to pay off Student loan debt!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 98 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-100 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson