what to do if you are exposed to ddt: what is the treatment?

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Nausea. DDT general factsheet. 1999 CLINICAL ACUTE POISONING Acute effects likely in humans due to low to moderate exposure may include nausea, diarrhea, increased liver enzyme activity, irritation (of the eyes, nose or throat), disturbed gait, malaise and excitability [flipper.diff.org] Vomiting. Aqueous-based activated charcoal should be used, as sorbitol-based …

How is DDT exposure treated?

How do you treat pesticide rash?

What should you do if your skin is exposed to pesticide?

What are signs of pesticide poisoning?

What are the effects of high levels of toxins?

People exposed to high levels exhibit dizziness, tremor, irritability, and convulsions. Workers with longer term exposure have lasting neurological and cognitive problems. [toxicfreefuture.org]

Can p,p'-DDT be reversed?

Moreover, the p,p'-DDT-stimulated proliferation of HepG2 cells could be reversed after NAC or β-catenin siRNA co-treatment . [flipper.diff.org]

Is DDT harmful to breasts?

Barbara Cohn, director of Child Health and Development Studies at the Public Health Institute in Berkeley, California, cited pre-puberty exposure to DDT as a risk for breast cancer in adulthood, using indirect epidemiological evidence. Now, Dr. [pri.org]

What is DDT?

DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) is a pesticide once widely used to control insects in agriculture and insects that carry diseases. DDT is a white, crystalline solid with no odor or taste. Its use in the U.S. was banned in 1972 because of damage to wildlife, but is still used in some countries, most notably for malaria control.

What happens to DDT when it enters the environment?

DDT use to enter the environment when it was used as a pesticide. This still occurs due to current use in other countries. DDE and DDD enter the environment as a contaminant or breakdown product of DDT. Once in the environment:

How might I be exposed to DDT?

Eating contaminated foods, such as root and leafy vegetables, fatty meat, fish, and poultry, but levels are very low.

How can DDT affect my health?

DDT affects the nervous system. People who have accidentally swallowed large amounts of DDT became excitable and had tremors and seizures. These effects went away after the exposure stopped. No effects were seen in people who took small daily doses of DDT by capsule for 18 months.

DDT and Cancer

Studies in animals given DDT with food have shown that DDT can cause liver cancer. Studies in DDT-exposed workers did not show increases in cancer.

How can I reduce the risk of exposure to DDT?

People can be exposed to DDT by eating food or drinking liquids contaminated with small amounts of DDT. Potential exposures can be reduced by:

What is DDT used for?

Items that can contain DDT. DDT was used to control insect vectors of disease, especially malaria. DDT was used to control pests like mosquitoes, houseflies, body lice, Colorado beetles, and gypsy moths.

What is DDT in the human body?

DDT, also known as dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, belongs to a class of pesticides called organochlorides. DDT can cause liver damage including liver cancer, nervous system damage, birth defects, and other reproductive harm.

What is DDT in the food chain?

This accumulated build-up is known as bioaccumulation, and DDT is described by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a persistent, bioaccumulative toxin. Due to this bioaccumulation, DDT remains in the food chain. It moves from crayfish, frogs, and fish into the bodies of animals that eat them. The bodies of animals near the top of the food ...

What are the side effects of DDT?

Exposure to DDT can cause symptoms such as: Hypersensitive to stimulation, a sensation of prickling, tingling or creeping on skin. Headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incoordination, tremor, mental confusion, hyperexcitable state. In severe cases: convulsions, seizures, coma and respiratory depression.

What is DDT chemical?

It is a synthetic chemical compound that doesn’t occur in nature. DDT appears as a colorless, crystalline solid.

Which animal has the highest DDT levels?

The bodies of animals near the top of the food chain, such as predatory birds like eagles, hawks, pelicans, condors and other meat-eating birds, often have the highest DDT levels. DDT’s trade names and identifiers include: Clofenotane. Chlorophenothane. p,p’-DDT.

Does DDT harm the body?

Body systems affected by DDT. DDT also has serious health effects on humans. According to the EPA, DDT can cause liver damage including liver cancer , nervous system damage , birth defects, and other reproductive harm.

What is DDT used for?

What is DDT? DDT is a cheap, persistent man-made organochlorine pesticide that is used in Third World countries for the control of malarial mosquitoes. DDT is soluble in organic solvents and fat, and relatively insoluble in water.

How is DDT determined?

Residual DDT is determined by testing the blood, fatty tissue, or breast milk and semen.

What are the effects of DDT on the nervous system?

Acute Health Effects: Short-term exposure to high doses of DDT affects primarily the nervous system, either as a depressant or a stimulant. People who have voluntarily or accidentally swallowed very high amounts of DDT experienced excitability, tremors, seizures, coma, and respiratory depression leading to death.

How does DDT affect humans?

Human Health Effects: DDT exposure occurs from inhalation, skin contact and ingestion of contaminated food. DDT has been banned from use in this country since 1972, however residues are found in the soil and can be transferred to crops grown in that soil.

What happens if you take DDT long term?

Chronic DDT absorption results in storage in fatty tissues. Long-term exposure may affect the liver, bone marrow, and brain.

Why is DDT found in the US?

DDT’s presence in the US is generally a result of contamination due to past and present production and past use. DDT, DDD, and DDE are found throughout the world; even areas far from their use; bound soil particles are transported by the wind and water; and, in the bodies of migrating species of animals. The half-life (the time it takes ...

What are the effects of hormone disruptors on animals?

The studies in animals have shown a close correlation between exposure to hormone disruptors with resulting birth defects that include incomplete and deformed reproductive systems, reduced fertility, impaired mental development, learning difficulties and hyperactivity, clear cell cancer, and compromised immune systems.

Why should DDT be continued?

Advancing an argument that DDT should be continued because DDT’s negative effects are so much less than are the effects of malaria on mortality or morbidity, and then ending the discussion there, ignores the rights of people to a safe environment, or at least to live safely in a compromised environment.

What is DDT used for?

DDT is a chemical specifically made and used to kill living things —its toxicity is indicated on all labels. With multiple modes of action, it is particularly effective against insects and was used in large quantities in agriculture and public health [World Health Organization (WHO) 1979].

How does DDT work in the IRS?

DDT is used in IRS by spraying indoor surfaces with a coating of DDT. This residual coating prevents malaria transmission as a spatial repellent or contact irritant or by killing mosquitoes (indicating more than one mode of action), effectively preventing or interrupting transmission (Grieco et al. 2007). For more than six decades, DDT used in IRS for malaria control has protected the lives of millions of people and prevented the suffering of millions more across the globe [estimated from Knipling (1953)and Mabaso et al. (2004)]. For example, when DDT was replaced with alternative chemicals for IRS in South Africa, the number of cases and deaths from malaria increased suddenly. The reintroduction of DDT (among other new measures) halted and reversed this epidemic, strongly indicating the effectiveness of DDT for IRS (Mabaso et al. 2004; Maharaj et al. 2005; Sadasivaiah et al. 2007). Seen from this defined perspective, DDT must be seen as “good,” and there can be few arguments about this.

What can be learned from the Thea?

What can be learned from THEA and other exposure and health investigations can also be applied to emergency and developing situations. Natural disasters can lead to refugees and displaced persons becoming exposed to malaria or other vector-borne diseases. Climate change, urbanization, and environmental degradation may result in the redistribution of disease or disease vectors. Implementing the THEA lessons to emergency response procedures that use chemicals to protect refugees and displaced persons from vector-borne diseases would also reduce the extent of human and environmental contamination.

What are the three positions of DDT?

The debate regarding dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in malaria prevention and human health is polarized and can be classified into three positions: anti-DDT, centrist-DDT, pro-DDT.

Is DDT safe for the community?

Overall, community health is significantly improved through all available malaria control measures, which include IRS with DDT. Is DDT “good”? Yes, because it has saved many lives. Is DDT safe as used in IRS? Recent publications have increasingly raised concerns about the health implications of DDT. Therefore, an unqualified statement that DDT used in IRS is safe is untenable. Are inhabitants and applicators exposed? Yes, and to high levels. Should DDT be used? The fact that DDT is “good” because it saves lives, and “not safe” because it has health and environmental consequences, raises ethical issues. The evidence of adverse human health effects due to DDT is mounting. However, under certain circumstances, malaria control using DDT cannot yet be halted. Therefore, the continued use of DDT poses a paradox recognized by a centrist-DDT position. At the very least, it is now time to invoke precaution. Precautionary actions could include use and exposure reduction.

Is DDT safe for the environment?

Hence, DDT is both “good” because it saves lives, and “not safe” because it has health and environmental consequences. This creates a paradox that needs to be resolved. Malaria control cannot be halted—and in certain situations, IRS with DDT remains the method of choice.

Why was DDT banned in 1972?

Sixty percent of Americans weren't even alive in 1972 when DDT was banned, but people think it must have been banned because it was toxic. Not so. According to the CDC, "No effects have been reported in adults given small daily doses of DDT by capsule for 18 months (up to 35 milligrams [mg] every day).".

What is the LD 50?

The measurement used to determine toxicity is LD 50 the dose required to kill half of the test animals. The higher the LD 50, the less toxic a chemical is. Since LD 50 values can vary considerably from one lab to another (thus the wide ranges) the exact numbers mean very little.

Is DDT a threat to Zika?

While there are some disturbing signs that Zika could, in fact, become a legitimate threat ...

Is DDT the same as Tylenol?

However, you can easily see that in three species, DDT has approximately the same acute toxicity as aspirin, caffeine and Tylenol (acetaminophen). No one is in a panic about those. So why so much fear about DDT? The answer lies in worries about...

Is DDT poisonous?

Perhaps no chemical evokes a stronger visceral response in Americans than DDT. Much of the public would consider it to be extremely poisonous. Some contend it is harmless.

When a scientist or group finds harm that others cannot, it is usually the case that they are on a answer

When a scientist or group finds harm that others cannot, it is usually the case that they are on a fishing expedition. Today we call that p-hacking or data dredging.

Is it harmful to have chemicals in your body?

Though the presence of a chemical in the body does not mean that it is harmful, all things being equal it is usually preferable to have chemicals and drugs metabolized and excreted rather than be stored, especially if the chemical has appreciable toxicity.