EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) was developed as the first of the modern synthetic insecticides in the 1940s. It was initially used with great effect to combat malaria, typhus, and the other insect-borne human diseases among both military and civilian populations.

Detailed explanation-2: -DDT quickly became the new “wonder insecticide” and was credited with saving thousands of human lives in World War II by killing typhus-carrying lice and malaria-carrying mosquitoes. It was the first “organic” chemical insecticide, meaning that it is a carbon-based molecule.

Detailed explanation-3: -DDT (Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane), for many years one of the most widely used pesticidal chemicals in the United States, was first synthesized in 1874. Its effectiveness as an insecticide, however, was only discovered in 1939.

Detailed explanation-4: -The 1930s and 1940s saw the rise of DDT, the first synthetic organic chemicals to be used as an insecticide. By killing insects that carried diseases like malaria and typhus, DDT is credited with saving thousands of lives during WWII.

Detailed explanation-5: -The first recorded use of insecticides is about 4500 years ago by Sumerians who used sulphur compounds to control insects and mites, whilst about 3200 years ago the Chinese were using mercury and arsenical compounds for controlling body lice4.