DDT

DDT (Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane) is a well-known pesticide.

DDT was sold in boxes such as this one

DDT is used against mosquitos, US, 1958

A piece of cardboard soaked with DDT, for use indoors. Seen in Australia, 2008

It was discovered by the Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Müller, who received the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery.^[1]

In the 1960s, a study found that DDT can cause cancer.^[2] DDT is also highly poisonous to birds and other animals further up the food chain. For these reasons, DDT was replaced by other pesticides.

The Stockholm Convention (which took effect in 2004) restricts the use of DDT to vector control. The convention does not affect the use of DDT for public health issues because there are very few affordable alternatives. DDT is still widely used in India,^[3] North Korea and possibly elsewhere.^[4]