DDT dangers

Global monitoring in raptors

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Although DDT was first synthe-sised in 1873, its insecticidal properties were only discovered in 1939 by Swiss chemist Paul Müller, earning him a Nobel Prize in 1945. DDT helped protect Allied soldiers against malaria and typhus during World War II, but it is best known for its pervasive negative impacts on the environment. After World War II, it was widely used as an insecticide both in agriculture and to combat vector-borne diseases. Scientists soon raised concerns over the environmental hazards posed by DDT, but it was Rachel Carson’s 1962 book, Silent Spring, that focused global attention on the pesticide’s environmental impacts. The book sparked a public outcry that forced the USA, Britain and other European countries to ban the use of DDT in the 1970s and 1980s.