DDT advocates argue that DDT is harmless to humans. Generally they base the claim on DDT’s low carcinogenicity in humans — it’s suspected of being a weak human carcinogen.
Frequently DDT advocates will point to the late Dr. Gordon Edwards’ grandstand sipping of a teaspoon of prepared DDT before lectures on the stuff.
Hard reality: It’s a poison. Comes this report from the Times of India: A despondent woman tried suicide by DDT. DDT is indeed a poison for humans.
The woman is in serious condition in a hospital.
AMRELI: The spate of suicides in the diamond industry continued as the wife of a diamond worker attempted suicide on Wednesday in Mini Kasbavad area of the city. Ruksana Pathan, 33, is battling for life at the government hospital here.
According to officials of Amreli police, Ruksana tried to end her life by consuming DDT powder when her husband and four children were away. She was rushed to the hospital here, where her condition is slated to be serious.
“Ruksana was depressed ever since her husband Taufiq Pathan, a diamond worker, was rendered unemployed after closure of diamond units,” said a police official. “As the family’s financial situation worsened, Ruksana attempted to kill herself,” the official said.
Kids, don’t try the Gordon Edwards stunt. DDT is poisonous, as the skull and crossbones on the old label would indicate.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
[…] stumbled across the story of a DDT suicide in India some time back. It was a short report. I found no follow […]
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[…] death in the U.S. as a result of using DDT in the limited way it’s now used in the U.S. There have been deaths outside the U.S. (and my recollection is at least one in the U.S.); and the methods that have […]
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Graeme Bird.
If someone were to arrange for you to take a tablespoon of DDT in front of some significant publicity, at no expense to yourself, will you agree to do so?
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“DDT didn’t come close to eliminating malaria from Africa, else we’d not have the problem today. With DDT being used broadly, malaria got under 2 million deaths a year. Now, it’s about 1 million deaths a year,”
What a ludicrous interpretation. How about a timeline to go with this idiots view of the situation.
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Yeah well they’ve been lied to. So they take it and they don’t die. I am sticking to the facts. You are lying again.
You see people believe you guys if you lie to them enough. You ought not take that as confirmation of your ludicrous anti-science propaganda. Beria killed Stalin with rat poison. He would have been in deep s— if he had used DDT because it would not have worked.
In Uganda at the moment town halls are full of holocaust-deniers resisting government spraying. For one thing central government spraying is a massive intrusion in countries that are still divided along tribal lines. But its not clear that private citizens have access to DDT in all countries. Certainly they don’t in mine. Anyway you have grownup African men and women protesting that the government is killing people in broad daylight with its DDT spraying. The exact opposite of the truth so the leftist holocaust still continues.
As we have seen leftist anti-science idiots all use many different methods to obstruct energy production. No one book or tactic explains their pack-animal co-ordination to deprive us of energy any way they can. And so it goes for DDT. In the midst of blanket denials and non-stop lying they will do anything to get black people killed. They’ll even give out bednets as cover to stop anyone using DDT. There is no end to the methods they use. I call it Lamberting. Its endlessly creative discouragement. From simple lying to black people. To closing down a manufacturing plant, to discouraging the central government via aid programs. You name it. You holocaust-enablers are flat out doing it. Lying about history of your obstruction to DDT the lifesaver even as you blacken the name of CO2 the life-giver.
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Turns out that DDT is a regular poison for suicides across Asia. Stick to the facts, Mr. Bird, the truth will benefit everyone.
On what basis do you say the woman did not die? Please offer a reference — I’ve been looking for weeks.
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Look how delusional Ed is. The woman didn’t die. Had she used rat poison she might have had a fighting chance of offing herself.
Of course its poison. Its there to kill insects. But its only mildly toxic to humans hence the woman still lives. There’s Bug Girl another Holocaust Denier.
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I cite several peer-reviewed papers on that post, Ed. It’s estimated that 1/3 of suicide attempts involve pesticides.
It’s a huge problem, and since we here in the US are obsessed with…well, ourselves….we don’t hear about it.
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DDT didn’t come close to eliminating malaria from Africa, else we’d not have the problem today. With DDT being used broadly, malaria got under 2 million deaths a year. Now, it’s about 1 million deaths a year, and dropping with alternatives to DDT. By the way, DDT was never banned in Africa. Areas which used DDT constantly since 1946 face a rise in malaria now, too. How do you explain that?
The point on suicides is that DDT advocates are, indeed, arguing that DDT is not toxic to humans. It’s nice that you disagree. One convinced by the facts, more to go.
Every day we waste not using alternatives to DDT to stop malaria, more people die. How long will DDT fanatics continue to block progress?
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NOBODY ever claimed that DDT was not toxic. However, used properly eliminated malaria in Africa, before it was banned. Now we have millions of people getting sick and dieing every year, but it is ok – some may call it very late term abortion.
People who want to kill themselves will use almost anything, so what? Are we going to outlaw cars, because some idiot decides to drive it of the cliff? Get real people.
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Also see here:
Bug Girl, how did I miss that DDT is used in suicides in Asia? One would think that, if that is indeed the case, there would be some toxicology data on it, instead of the one sad case of a child drinking it and dying in the U.S.
The APAC story suggests it’s almost common in Asia for DDT to be used in suicide. Are there statistics on this?
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Bug Girl, this reminds me of the use of Lysol / Dettol as a means of suicide, especially by young women. I’m referring to the original Lysol. It was quite a concern in the early 20th century. All this came up in my research about what Lysol is or is not as a disinfectant for bird flu and other stuff.
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Death by pesticide is a very common and sad way to go–
WHO is now trying to find a way to stop it, but it will be difficult.
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Generally a direct correlation. Not always, but often enough to make one wonder whether it’s the same virus for all three forms of insanity.
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People who think DDT isn’t poisonous must truly be a deluded lot. I am forced to wonder if they are likewise deluded about such things as global warming or Evolution; I would assume there would have to be some sort of correlation.
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Visiting again!
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