History of DDT

1874: First synthesized (does not occur naturally -- produced by the reaction of chloral (CCl₃CHO) with chlorobenzene (C₆H₅Cl) in the presence of the catalyst, sulfuric acid)

Insecticidal properties used to control malaria and typhus (yellow fever) among civilians and troops in WWII in 1939

1948: high efficiency as a contact poison against several arthropods

After the war: agricultural insecticide (control potato beetles, coddling moth, corn earworm, cotton bollworm and tobacco budworms, etc) with mass production ( once as high as 220 million pounds of DDT a year )

1962: Environmental movement against DDT initiated by a book, Silent Spring, by American biologist Rachel Carson on the indiscriminate spraying of DDT in the US, questioned the logic of releasing large amounts of chemicals into the environment and on DDT harm to humans, cancer-causing , and a threat to wildlife.

June 1972: Large public outcry leading toUS EPA to ban the use of DDT on crops in US. This ban was a major factor for the comeback of the almost extinct bald eagle in US, the national bird of the United States.

Subsequently DDT was banned for agricultural use worldwide under the Stockholm Convention, but its limited use in disease vector control is still controversial today. Some say without using DDT there would be more damage n losses.