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Residue Reviews pp 1–34Cite as

DDT: Health aspects in relation to man and risk/benefit assessment based thereupon

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Part of the book series: Residue Reviews ((RECT,volume 90))

Abstract

Every chemical substance with biocidal and pharmacological activity has two sides: it produces desirable and undesirable effects and these have to be weighed one against the other. This is true not only of drugs but also of pesticides and DDT is no exception. It was Dr. Paul Müller, a chemist working on a purely synthetic plant protection agent in Basle just on the outbreak of World War II, who discovered the insecticidal activity of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in 1939. When tested on files, Colorado beetles, and other insects, DDT proved to be exceptionally active (Müller 1946, 1949).

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  1. Peter Merian-Str. 16, CH-4052, Basel, Switzerland

    Max Spindler

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  1. Max Spindler
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  1. Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, 92521, California, USA

    Francis A. Gunther

  2. Riverside, California, USA

    Jane Davies Gunther

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Spindler, M. (1983). DDT: Health aspects in relation to man and risk/benefit assessment based thereupon. In: Gunther, F.A., Gunther, J.D. (eds) Residue Reviews. Residue Reviews, vol 90. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5606-9_1

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