!["D.D.T. Powerful Insecticide Safe To Humans" - Jones Beach, New York 1953 [828x784 - 75KB]](https://pic8.co/sh/6F4qSE.jpg){kind=link}
For humans sort of. For many animals definitely not. Also it's an endocrine disruptor - like we need more of those. Androgen receptor antagonist (so you get fewer androgenic effects of testosterone) and o,p-DDT has weak estrogenic activity - i.e. it's an aid in producing soy boys. Also it bioaccumulates because of its long half life. I would say it's maybe sorta safe, acutely (chronically it's almost-certainly bad), but I definitely wouldn't say it (or about any insecticide) is "incredibly safe."
The science was settled on DDT long before the political climate of today. Not that it wasn't politicized at the time but nothing like what we're seeing today. For example the Canadian govt. in a fit of grandstanding proclaimed that zero amount of DDT was acceptable. But then because DDT was already in the environment they had to define Zero as as some non-zero figure.
That's fair; I've seen mask data falsified firsthand (the alternative would be to believe a statistical probability so remote as to be impossible). But I believe the endocrine disruptor claim since it's structurally similar enough to BPA it's certainly plausible.
The eggshell thinning thing is proven as well, and raptor populations have been recovering ever since its ban. I didn't even think bald eagles lived in IN, but by the time I was 30, seeing them wasn't super uncommon. They were simply not there when I was a kid because a.) so endangered, and b.) of course IN is a big agricultural state.
I'm really taking issue with your use of the word "incredibly" I think. Like... nah, I can believe the safety profile. It's not an acute poison - you wouldn't dream of using it for murder - but like most persistent pesticides, particularly lipid-soluble ones, there are some negative downstream effects.
If DDT is your solution to eliminate mosquitoes we'd have to imagine a world without several dominant raptors as well. And again, it's almost-certainly an endocrine disruptor so more fem boys to boot. This world is already worse than I'd imagined with their presence.
I think gene drive extinction technology will do a better and cleaner job than DDT ever could.
However that tech is also super scary. Fuck man what if that's the covid vaccine? Holy shit. You'd never know until it was too late - the effects would only be seen after a few generations when suddenly everyone with grandparents that got the vaccine is sterile.
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