Regan

#1

6/15/15

DDT: Should it or Shouldnt it be Used

DDT is a pesticide that has caused a lot of controversy all over the world. There is an
overwhelming debate about whether it should be used. DDT causes bird populations to drop
dramatically and affects food webs and ecosystems. Without a healthy world the human life
quality and population could go way down. Hence, DDT should not be used.
Birds of prey are a sight to see and are a major factor in most land and lake ecosystems.
DDT finds its way into animals that eat insects that are poisoned with DDT. As birds of prey are
at the top of the food chain, the pesticide will eventually get to them. When this happens, the
birds population suffers a considerable drop. The reason for this is the eggshells. DDT makes
the shells thinner and causes them to break under their mothers weight. When the birds cannot
reproduce, the population drops. For instance, When DDT was used in the U.S., peregrine
falcon eggshell thickness was tested at 1.05mm. Not too long after the 1972 ban of the
pesticide, eggshell thickness was up to 2.30mm (W.H. Freeman and Co. San Francisco). This
obviously shows that eggshells were affected a great deal.
DDT affects the entire ecosystem. If you did not already know, the ecosystem can work
like dominoes. If one part of it is affected, that change can alter the rest of the system. When
DDT was used in an island ecosystem, it killed not only mosquitoes but also wasps that served
an important part of the ecosystem: to eat caterpillars. Without many wasps, the caterpillar
population increased significantly. Subsequent to the increased population, the thatch roofs on
the island were eaten (Here, Let Me Fix It). The roofs caved in and houses and huts had to be
repaired. This is an example of a domino effect that happens when we tamper with the
ecosystem. This did not cause too much damage but if we keep using dangerous pesticides it
could become a whole lot worse.

Water is where much of our food and all of our water supply comes from. You might
think that DDT has been banned so the water is fine. However, this thinking is faulty. DDT is
very persistent and can stay in water for over 150 years(DDT Video). Imagine how many
animals the pesticide could go through and affect, not to mention our food supply. This also
explains why and how birds of prey are being exposed to DDT. They eat the infected fish or
other animals that have eaten the fish. This goes back to the domino effect in the ecosystem.
DDT has harmed many animals and natural resources and will continue to do so if we do
not put an end to it. Imagine being a peregrine falcon whose chicks have perished in their eggs
before they hatched and watching others suffer the same plight. The reason this pesticide is not
being banned throughout the world is the disease malaria. As this pesticide is so powerful, it
quickly abolished many mosquitos, lowering malaria levels. Although DDT is effective in
preventing malaria, there are other options that do not harm the environment. One of these
options are bednets. It takes $10 to donate a bednet to African children that are in danger of
getting malaria. If scientists work and think correlatively, a solution should be plausible.
However, DDT is not the answer.