Oh No You DDT

Melting Antarctic glaciers may be releasing DDT, says study

Posted at 10:44 AM on 27 May 2008

Adélie penguins in the Antarctic are as chock-full of pesticide DDT as they were in the 1970s, even though global DDT use has dropped 80 percent in the past three decades, says new research published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Researchers speculate that climate change is at fault -- honestly, is there anything climate change is not mucking up? -- as concentrations of the pesticide that had been trapped in ice are released by glacial melt and travel up the food chain. DDT has been banned in the northern hemisphere, but the World Health Organization has endorsed its controlled use to fight malaria in Africa. The purpose of the study "was not to further vilify DDT," says lead author Heidi Geisz, but to research how persistent the pesticide and other pollutants of its ilk can be.

sources: ScienceDaily, The New York Times
see also, in Grist: Study suggests link between DDT exposure and breast cancer

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Comments: (4 comments)

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Not To Further Vilify DDT?

Why in hell not? Obviously, some people still think it's OK to poison the Earth with this crap, so vilify away. In fact, all petrochemical pesticides should be vilified in all parts of the world. Any crops that can't be grown organically shouldn't be grown, period, and even many of the plant-based pesticides should be elimiated.

by Wolverine at 12:20 PM on 27 May 2008

Balance of Nature

As pestiferous insects swarm up the coasts like Killer Bees, the melting permafrost releases clouds of DDT southward. Fanned by the flippers of helpful penguins, the DDT stalls somewhere in Camden, NJ they meet, annihilating the malaria squad and saving the nation.

by jabailo at 6:36 PM on 27 May 2008

Strike one!

While I'm quite fond of jabailo, and think his attempts at skepticism are humorous, I can't help but point something out.

The penguins in question live in the Antarctic, not the Arctic. It would be a neat trick to see penguins blow anything south to New Jersey.

Ahh well, I don't suppose he was going to factual accuracy anyway, given his other posts around here.

by BlackBear at 4:45 AM on 28 May 2008

Sure

While you are at at we should just demand that the world's poor all shop at "Whole Foods".

by DarthPetrol at 11:57 AM on 28 May 2008
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