Environmental Impacts

• Strongly absorbed by soils
• Soil half life can range from 22 days to 30 years
• DDT , DDE and DDD dissolved in water will be transported from warmer regions of the world to the Arctic by the phenomenon of global distillation, where they then accumulate in the region's food web and magnify through the food chain
• Toxic to a wide range of insects, animals and aquatic life
• Using DDT for malaria control often lead to explosive growth in rodent populations. Also, sometime it fails to kill or even exacerbates problems with other insect pests
• A reproductive toxicant for certain birds species (DDE inhibits calcium ATPase in the membrane of the shell gland and reduces the transport of calcium carbonate from blood into the eggshell gland. à eggshell 10–12 percent thinner à disrupts the development of the female reproductive tract)