As earth's population grows so does the demand for food, and the use of pesticides has become essential in meeting this demand. The first important synthetic organic pesticide was a chlorinated hydrocarbon, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane or DDT. DDT was discovered in 1939 by Swiss chemist Paul Mueller. In its early days, DDT was a popular pesticide because it was toxic to a wide range of insect pests, yet it appeared to have low toxicity to mammals. DDT was also persistent, which meant the pesticide didn't break down rapidly in the environment and therefore did not need to be reapplied often and since DDT was insoluble it did not wash off by rain or other weather conditions. Although gradually throughout time it was discovered that many insects had developed resistance to DDT, and it was discovered that DDT did in fact pose to be harmful to the ecosystem. This discovery created wide public interest and made people aware that chemicals were polluting the environment. As a result DDT was banned for use in North America and other countries in the early 1970's. Though pesticides, such as DDT, may decrease the number of insects, throughout histor

While originally researchers believed that DDT was not toxic to the ecosystem, it became increasingly evident that DDT has had a grave effect upon the environment and its residing animals.

birds, the pesticide levels in the fish-eating birds is much higher. When these contaminated birds are eaten by peregrine falcons at the top of the food chain, the falcons end up with pesticide levels even higher. This means the pesticides accumulate as they travel up the food chain. Therefore the more animals consumed by the top carnivores, the more DDT will be stored in the fatty tissues.

situations where heavy applications are made annually. Generally DDT is tightly absorbed by soil organic matter, but it has been detected in many locations in soil

chronic, long-term exposures, it may be involved with liver cancers, reproductive abnormalities and other human and mammalian effects.

Through current research, scientists have discovered that DDT may have a serious negative effect on humans, if exposed to large quantities of the chemical or exposed to small amounts of a extended period of time. It has been shown that humans may develop several types of cancer, a decreased immune function and chemical sensitivity as a rest of DDT exposure. These discoveries also contributed to the ban of DDT in certain parts of the World.

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Approximate Word count = 2168
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)