Two recent articles in EHP (1,2) and the latest Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry toxicologic profile for DDT (3) make repeated references to DDT risks. These statements of risk, like so many others, are one-sided and give no consideration to colossal increases in diseases previously controlled with DDT. Behind disease statistics are grievous human tragedies, as with the case of ...

The dehydrochlorination of 1 , 1 , I-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane to its nontoxic, ethylenic analogue, DDE,* by extracts of DDT-resistant houseflies (1Musca domestica) was first demonstrated by Sternburg et al. (I). It was shown that this system was GSH-dependent and that no DDT dehydrochlorinase could be detected in DDT-susceptible flies by the means then available. The titer of DDT...

Aedes albopictus collected from urban districts of China (12 strains) has developed high levels of DDT resistance, while 2 strains collected from rural areas remain susceptible. The mechanism of DDT resistance was due to intensified activity of DDT-dehydrochlorinase, but the penetration of DDT into the mosquito body is also different. This may possibly have had some influence on the resistance ...

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is still used in certain areas of tropics and subtropics to control malaria and other insect-transmitted diseases. DDT and its metabolites have been extensively studied for their toxicity and carcinogenicity in animals and humans and shown to have an endocrine disrupting potential affecting reproductive system although the effects may vary among animal spec...

Understanding the evolution and spread of insecticide resistance requires knowing the relative fitness of resistant organisms. In the absence of insecticides, resistance is predicted to be costly. The Drosophila melanogaster DDT resistance allele (DDT-R) is associated with a male mating cost. This could be because resistant males are generally smaller, but DDT-R may also alter courtship behavio...