re: Millions Died Thanks to the Mother of Environmentalism---FEE

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Although DDT soon became synonymous with poison, the pesticide was an effective weapon in the fight against an infection that has killed – and continues to kill – more people than any other: malaria.

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The law of unintended consequences.

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You knew you were in cotton country when you smelled that toxaphene.

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I grew up in cotton country.
The smell of that shite used to make me nauseous on the reg.

I remember sitting at my grandmother's table with the windows open and the drift from the cotton field near the house would come in while we were eating.

They sprayed with those JD high boys and that toxaphene had to be sprayed about every week or so after the cotton bloomed.

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Back in the early 80’ in Triana, which is close to Huntsville Al, the Olin company agreed to pay for the healthcare of local residents who had elevated levels of DDT in their bodies. They paid untold money for the cleanup and something like $20 million to about 1000 residents that were affected. I remember seeing some of these people on the news that looked to be 90 years old talking about having DDT in their bodies. If not for the DDT they probably would have died 20 years earlier from malaria.

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I grew up a few miles west of Triana, and knew a lot of people that lived there and received money.

Now I don't know how much the DDT was a factor, and there are probably other causes, but one big thing I did notice over the years, was a huge decline in the numbers of ducks and geese down the river from Indian Creek.
Where we lived, bordered on The Wheeler Refuge which was specifically a migratory waterfowl refuge. 50 years ago, the sky would be black in the late fall with the ducks and geese coming in and the numbers started decreasing really fast for some reason, or maybe several reasons.

Now, you just don't see those numbers of birds there anymore. Was it all because of DDT being dumped in the River? Probably not, but I have to believe that it was a factor.

As a kid, we used to call the mosquito truck the “the fog man “. None of us have died, yet. I’m 54.

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50 years ago, the sky would be black in the late fall with the ducks and geese coming in and the numbers started decreasing really fast for some reason, or maybe several reasons.

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Im not a duck hunter but I have heard the south Louisiana hunters complain the seasons aren’t what they used to be since Ducks Unlimited started creating food plots in the Midwest.

I know first hand that it IS hazardous to your health.

We lived on a Navy base and the “fog man would come by and we would run behind the fogger. I slammed into a telephone pole and knocked myself out.

So beware.

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Actually, you don't have to. What do you suspect...that DDT killed the ducks outright, or killed off their food supply, or what?

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Part of what was claimed, to be the harmful effects of DDT, was a thinning of the eggshells making it unlikely for eggs to last long enough for young birds to hatch out, and the birds will come back to where they were born, to mate and lay their eggs, so it starts a downhill trend on the population that can't correct itself. Less birds being born there, means fewer and fewer birds coming back meaning less and less birds being born there.

Now it seems that part of the studies were falsified, to make the effects seem more dramatic, but I'm pretty sure there was an actual harmful effect regarding the eggshell thickness, but the researchers wanted it to be more convincing.

Not being a biologist, I just have to judge what I saw in the population decline and that was pretty dang dramatic. We are talking about what happened 50 years ago, and I'm not sure that all of the food plot and warm water ponds and stuff up north had started yet, at that time.

Again.. I have nothing against DDT, lets just not dump it into rivers and dumb shite like that. Seems like the smart approach with all questionable chemicals.

Man, that article took forever to get to the point. Thanks for that shite.

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the brown pelican was almost extinct in Louisiana at the time of ddt banning. now they are everywhere

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The bald eagles are coming back to that area of The Tennessee River also, but the ducks and geese won't be coming back. Different reasons for that.

Also, it's highly possible that the dumping of the DDT in Indian Creek was a direct result of the banning. That Olin Chemical had a stockpile of it, and got rid of it the easiest way possible. That probably happened in a lot of places, instead of it being used up in a proper manner. So the effect was pretty harsh all at once.
I was still a kid back then, so I'm not sure about the sequence of how it all happened.