DDT Strikes Back: Galapagos Sea Lions Face Increasing Health Risks

Excerpt

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is an effective and relatively cheap anti-malaria pesticide which has saved human lives, but also brought Northern wildlife species to the brink of extinction due to its persistence, bioaccumulation in the food-web, and hormone-mimicking characteristics (Carson 1962; Vallack et al. 1998; UNEP 2001; ATSDR 2002; Blus 2003; WHO 2006; Colborn and Carroll 2007; Van den Berg 2008). Thirty-two years after its ban in the US and its inclusion on Schedule 2 of the UN Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) because of its damaging health effects in human and wildlife populations (UNEP 2001; ATSDR 2002; WHO 2006; Vallack et al. 1998; Colborn and Carroll 2007; Blus 2003), the WHO has recommitted to the use of the malaria-fighting pesticide DDT in tropical countries because of an increase in malaria cases in tropical countries (e. g., Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, and African nations), where DDT use was halted or low application rates were used (Van den Berg 2008; WHO 2006; Roberts et al. 1997, 2000). …