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DDT and the Environment 2 DDT and The Environment: The Effects on the Ecosystem As earth's population grows so does the demand for food, and the use of pesticides has become essential in meeting this demand. The first important synthetic organic pesticide was a chlorinated hydrocarbon, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane or DDT. DDT was discovered in 1939 by Swiss chemist Paul Müeller. In its early days, DDT was a popular pesticide because it was toxic to a wide range …

…These new chemical pesticides can also be broken down within the soil. Although these chemicals are somewhat safer than DDT, they still have their problems. First, they break down quickly in soil, and therefore must be applied to crops more often. Secondly , these chemicals are still able to kill animals. Eventually there will be a chemical which is able to outweigh negative effects with positive, but currently society still remains to have difficulties with pesticides.