DDT

DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) is an organochlorine insecticide used to control mosquitoes and other insects. DDT is very toxic, very persistent in the environment, and bioaccumulates in many animals to a large degree. DDT commonly degrades to DDE (dichlorodiphenylethylene) in the environment. DDT was banned from use in the United States in 1972; however, it is still found in the environment and it is still used in other parts of the world. DDT is on the list of 12 persistent organic pollutants that are slated for total elimination by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants; however, DDT has been given a provisional exemption due to severe problems with malaria and other insect bourn diseases in tropical areas.

More Information

• Organochlorine Pesticides and PCBs in Stream Sediment and Aquatic Biota--Initial Results from the National Water-Quality Assessment Program, 1992-1995 : Water-Reources Investigations Report 00-4053
  
• The search for reliable aqueous solubility (S_W) and octanol-water partition coefficient (K_OW) data for hydrophobic organic compounds--DDT and DDE as a case study : U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 01-4201
  
• What is DDT?, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) Chemical Program
  
• DDT Ban History, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  
• DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), EXTOXNET, Extension Toxicology Network, Pesticide Information Profiles
  
• Landmark Book Published on the Fate of Contaminants in the Environment: Partition and Adsorption of Organic Contaminants in Environmental Systems
  
• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
  
• United Nations Persistent Organic Pollutants Programme

Other Information on Pesticides

• Measuring Pesticides and How They Transform in the Environment
  
• Management Practices a Factor in Herbicide Declines
  
• Degradates: A Key to Assessing Herbicide Impacts in Streams
  
• Where are the Pesticides?
  
• Science of the Total Environment Special Issue on Agricultural Chemicals
  
• Topical Information on Agricultural Chemicals, USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program
  
• Pesticide National Synthesis Project, USGS National Water-Quality Assessment.
  
  
  

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