DIYbanter - View Single Post

HeyBub[_3_]

wrote:

Dead birds, mostly. DDT was instrumental to the decline in the big
raptors because the DDT propagated up the food chain.

I'll play. By what mechanism did DDT in the food chain kill birds?

The administrative law judge, after hearings at the EPA, after seven months
of testimony, concluded: "DDT is not a carcinogenic hazard to man... DDT is
not a mutagenic or teratogenic hazard to man... The use of DDT under the
regulations involved here do not have a deleterious effect on freshwater
fish, estuarine organisms, wild birds or other wildlife."

Nevertheless, the head of the EPA, on his on authority, banned DDT. The head
of the EPA that banned DDT was also a member of the Environmental Defense
Fund.

Anyway, if you have some alternative information, I'd be glad to hear it.

It was basically
just because we used DDT indiscriminately with absolutely zero control
of where, how much or what we were trying to kill.
I doubt DDT is any worse than any other chemical if we were more
careful in how we used it.

Nah. Like Arsenic in the water supply, ANY amount is too much for some.