DDT - An Uncommon Carrier

Environmental quality indices gain favor as means to express mathematically the status of the environment. One stress indicator points to pesticides as the top current cause of pollution stress. Using DDT as the example pesticide, the unanticipated phenomena encountered with DDT usage such as non-target kill, genetic resistance, biological magnification and other side effects are described.

Transportation is heavily involved not only with the use of pesticides but with the problems of air pollution and the use of heavy metals. Cautions are presented based on the DDT experience, particularly regarding the often too narrow base of a science to support broadly applied technology.