Can we bring back DDT yet?

[zxcvbob]

Yes, I was typing way to fast.

No problem.  Took me a minute to figure out what you meant.  (and I didn't know potassium iodate was a nutritional supplement; I thought they used potassium iodide (maybe mixed with KIO))

[freakazoid]

That actually was one of the advantages of being on chemo.  Mosquitoes wouldn't land on me or even come near.     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbminOZZcio

[French G.]

I wonder if the half can of powdered DDT is still in my late grandfather's garage?

I really don't want to see DDT return to use in the states, chances are that it does harm wildlife, especially apex predators. Especially when the most dangerous thing we have are mosquitos, little to no malaria or dengue threat, some EEE down in the swamp where I used to live. There are much better targeted bacterial remedies for mosquitos.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Yea I use BT dunks and a propane powered killer. Fog once a week

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[MicroBalrog]

Here is your scientific paper

http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/ddtgen.pdf

yes it is still legal to use in many countries around the world, yet malaria deaths are still high.

Malaria deaths are in freefall. Eradication in Africa is expected by 2015.

[charby]

Yea I use BT dunks and a propane powered killer. Fog once a week

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BT/or other biological controls are pretty popular where I live since there is a lot of glacial potholes and natural water catches in urban areas.

[Ron]

I pretty much have lived in the same area since 1969.

Growing up I don't recall ever seeing the amount of hawks I now see on a regular basis. Back then this part of suburbia was still primarily corn/soybean fields and fallow land prairies.

With the farms gone I see more raptors than I ever did back then. We even have eagles nesting right here in the burbs of Chicago.

I realize correlation doesn't imply causation but..

[Scout26]

We have also made the urban areas and suburbs more livable for wildlife.  We have a resident Canada Goose population because of storm water retention requirements.  Coyotes, possums, rabbits, squirrels, skunks have adapted and thrived.  Once you have lots of prey animals, the predators naturally follow.

[RoadKingLarry]

DDT was over used and abused beyond belief. A few years ago my mother in law was living on a farm lease. The place had been a dairy since the early teens untill the late '80s. There was an old grain bin out behind the barn. The bottom of that old bin had about 6" of grain still in it and it was laying on top of about 3"+ of powdered DDT. There was nothing living or dead inside that old bin. No roaches no flys, no spiders and no mice or rats. It would be my guess that the layer of DDT was put in place contrary to labeled usage.

There was and still is among less educated folks a belief that if a little is good a whole hell of a lot would be a whole hell of a lot better.

I have no problem with a limited return to the use of DDT but despite my anarchist leaning libertarian views this would be one area that would be worthy of strict government regulation and control.

[charby]

We have also made the urban areas and suburbs more livable for wildlife.  We have a resident Canada Goose population because of storm water retention requirements.  Coyotes, possums, rabbits, squirrels, skunks have adapted and thrived.  Once you have lots of prey animals, the predators naturally follow.

Somewhat true.

Many of those animals have adapted to life with humans in urban environment.

Geese love golf courses and sewage/water treatment plants.

Raccoons are actually a southern US creature who have adapted quite well to the northern states with the changes man has made on the landscape.

Squirrels and rabbits go where there is habitat, lots of trees and shrubs in the city environment.

Opossums are animals of opportunity, garbage and outdoor pet food containers make for an easy meal.

 

[MechAg94]

I would not be surprised if possums eat small pets also.  City possums are big and fat. 

There is a water treatment plant a few miles away.  A radio or cell tower right outside the fence is for some reason a hangout for buzzards.  There always seem to be 30 to 50 or more hanging out on the tower.  Not sure what is there they like. 

[De Selby]

DDT is still  legal and produced for antimalaria-mosquito deployments.

Wait, that's unpossible - the environmentalist cabal that runs the UN banned it years ago.  They send black helicopters to anyone who continues to use DDT.

Funny how that gets ignored - DDT use is declining for anti malarial campaigns because Mosquitos are increasingly resistant, not because it's banned. 

[MicroBalrog]

Wait, that's unpossible - the environmentalist cabal that runs the UN banned it years ago.  They send black helicopters to anyone who continues to use DDT.

Funny how that gets ignored - DDT use is declining for anti malarial campaigns because Mosquitos are increasingly resistant, not because it's banned. 

Of course, I still think it should be legalized. Do not get me wrong.

[Tallpine]

Will DDT kill a Condor ?      

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/13/intruder-endangered-bird-species-damages-california-community-homes/

[stevelyn]

Good thing about living in the North is that ice and cold kill off any notion of giant insects, poisonous reptiles, and other unwanted vermin.

You've never been in the mosquito infested north in the summer. Yeah, the cold may keep them from becoming giants, but they make up for it in numbers. Burning Pic coils and Buhac are your friends.

On the bright side, Jake NoShoulders and his reptilian vermin can't survive the cold.

[French G.]

I would not be surprised if possums eat small pets also.  City possums are big and fat. 

There is a water treatment plant a few miles away.  A radio or cell tower right outside the fence is for some reason a hangout for buzzards.  There always seem to be 30 to 50 or more hanging out on the tower.  Not sure what is there they like. 

May just be a nice place for them to sit, get warm and do whatever a vulture does. They may also get fresh appetizers from bird kill if the tower is strong enough to do so. Pigeons never seemed quite right after a close encounter with the topside of my old ship if it was radiating.