Extoxnet Pip - Ddt

INTRODUCTION: DDT is an organochlorine insecticide used mainly to control mosquito-borne malaria; use on crops has generally been replaced by less persistent insecticides (79). It was extensively used during the Second World War among Allied troops and certain civilian populations to control insect typhus and malaria vectors, and was then extensively used as an agricultural insecticide after 1945 (73). DDT was banned for use in Sweden in 1970 and in the United States in 1972 (73). Many insect pests may have developed resistance to DDT (79). Unless otherwise specified, the toxicological, environmental effects and environmental fate and chemistry data presented here refer to the technical product DDT. Technical grade DDT is actually a mixture of three isomers of DDT, principally the p,p'-DDT isomer (ca. 85%), with the o,p'-DDT and o,o'-DDT isomers typically present in much lesser amounts (73).