DDT

DDT was first thought to be the ideal insecticide. It was not acutely toxic to humans but highly toxic to insects. The fact that it was persistent represented a further advantage. DDT was discovered to be an insecticide in 1939 by Paul Mueller, a chemist working for the Swiss firm Geigy on the development of various chemicals to fight agricultural insects. Mueller was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine and physiology in 1948 in recognition of many …

…severely restricted in most states. In 1972, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned all DDT uses except that essential to public health. Sweden instituted similar bans in 1969 and later in most of the larger countries. DDT is still being used in developing countries to control disease, particularly for control of malaria carrying mosquitoes. Unfortunately in some countries the regulatory system does not prevent DDT form being deviated from the public health to the agricultural sector.