Kontakt 2005, 7(3-4):344-348 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2005.066

DDT: Eventful history of a poisonBiomedicine

Kateřina Neumannová, Jiří Patočka^*

Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, katedra radiologie a toxikologie

DDT is an organic chlorinated insecticide, formerly intensively used throughout the world in agriculture and in the control of insects transmitting malaria and typhus. In 1972, the use of DDT was prohibited in the USA and similarly also in some other countries. In many developing countries, DDT is ever being used in the control of mosquitoes transmitting malaria. DDT is considered as a persisting organic pollutant that shows its long-term presence in the environment and in animals that can be propagated to long distances. DDT is considered as probably carcinogenic substance by the World Health Organization. Due to its stability and ability to be accumulated in lipids, it was found in human typhus, and there is currently no organism throughout the planet that would not contain DDT. In spite of existing convincing experimental demonstrations of the carcinogenicity of DDT and of its main metabolites DDE and DDD, epidemiological studies are not demonstrable, with a prevalence of negative results. Further studies will be necessary concerning possible contributions of DDT to enhancing the risk of different types of cancer diseases and its possible negative effects on the endocrine system.

Keywords: DDT; insecticide; environment; probably carcinogenic substance

Published: November 22, 2005  Show citation