DDT
22
6.4
- noun
- /ˌdiːˌdiːˈtiː/
- Specialized
:
DDT
- Silent Spring facilitated the ban of the pesticide DDT in 1972 in the United States.
- DDT pesticide
- ban on DDT
- spraying DDT
Each one of these particles of plastic is like a sponge for contaminants, things like PCBS or DDT.
- Each one of these particles of plastic is like a sponge for contaminants, things like PCBS or DDT.
- And we know that DDT, although it did kill a lot of insects, also had terrible effects on bird populations.
- And it was based on the fact that chlorine was a constituent of dioxin's DDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbons.
Examples
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DDT was widely used during the mid-20th century to combat DDT carrying insects.
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USDA scientists in Orlando, Florida, demonstrated that DDT killed lice that transmit typhus and fleas that transmit plague.
Academic text (2005) -
And we know that DDT, although it did kill a lot of insects, also had terrible effects on bird populations.
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Some measurements have indicated DDT levels 46 times higher than that limit.
Academic text (1996) -
Of course you kill the mosquitoes of, but you also kill the fish because DDT is poisonous to fish.
-
His mother said she hadn't seen a bluebird in years; DDT had killed most of them off.
Fiction book (2000) -
I mean that through the excessive use of insecticides like DDT... we're inadvertently killing off the spiders' natural source of food.
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The pesticide DDT has been banned in many countries due to its harmful effects on wildlife.
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Farmers relied on DDT for pest control until studies revealed its toxicity to the environment.
Synonyms
108
3.5
A chemical used to kill insects and animals that harm crops or spread disease
26
4.1
A chemical used to kill insects that harm crops or homes
A man-made chemical often called DDT that kills insects, harms people and animals, and many countries now ban it
Surface Forms
Etymology
DDT comes from the long chemical name dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, with the letters picked to make a short name for the compound. So DDT is the short name for an 'insect-killing' chemical that was later banned in many places because it harms animals and people.