Banned DDT discovered in Canadian trout decades after use, research finds

[IronNoggin]

Banned DDT discovered in Canadian trout decades after use, research finds​

Potential danger to humans and wildlife from harmful pesticide discovered in fish at 10 times safety limit

Residues of the insecticide DDT have been found to persist at “alarming rates” in trout even after nearly six decades, potentially posing a significant danger to humans and wildlife that eat the fish, research has found.

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, known as DDT, was used on forested land in New Brunswick, Canada, from 1952 to 1968. The researchers found traces of it remained in brook trout in some lakes, often at levels 10 times higher than the recommended safety threshold for wildlife.

Josh Kurek, an associate professor in environmental change and aquatic biomonitoring at Mount Allison University in Canada and lead author of the research, said that DDT was a probable carcinogen that hadn’t been used in decades in Canada, “yet it’s abundant in fish and lake mud throughout much of the province at shockingly high levels”.

Banned DDT discovered in Canadian trout decades after use, research finds

Potential danger to humans and wildlife from harmful pesticide discovered in fish at 10 times safety limit

www.theguardian.com

 

[agentaqua]

Thanks for the post, Nog.

The urban UK author of the news article in the Guardian misreported & mischaracterized why DDT was used so heavy in NB stating it was: "used to control insects carrying diseases such as malaria and typhus.".

That may be true in some jurisdictions where malaria is an issue and they have little forests - like Africa. But NB is not Africa.

Instead it was due to the damage the eastern spruce budworm was doing to Irving's woodlots - something the author of the actual study got right.