OrganicAuthority.com - Organic Blog » DDT

Peanut Butter ‘n’ Hexabromocyclododecane? Flame Retardants Found in Food

Jill Ettinger — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 07:00:04 +0000

A study published in the recent issue of Environmental Health Perspectives makes a startling discovery in samples of peanut butter, cold cuts and other fatty foods collected from the Dallas, Texas area: they all contain traces of a toxic flame retardant.

Banned DDT Still a Health Risk, Linked to Vitamin D Deficiencies

Jill Ettinger — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:00:54 +0000

New research links exposure to common pesticides with compromised vitamin D levels that can cause deficiencies and disease, according to a study published in a recent issue of the journal PLoS One.

DDT Exposure May Influence Obesity in Young Women

Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:08:06 +0000

After World War II, Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane, or DDT, a pesticide used to control lice and mosquito populations, was sold as an agricultural insecticide, but DDT was eventually banned by the Endangered Species Act, due to the risks it poses to wildlife, specifically birds, and human health, such as cancer.

Despite not being used for decades, DDT byproducts still exist in the environment, especially in marine animals like fish, and now a new study in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine links DDE, a breakdown of DDT, with obesity in young women.

The research, involving the offspring of 259 pregnant women living along and eating fish from Lake Michigan, discovered the group with intermediate levels of DDE gained an average of 13 pounds of excess weight and the group with the highest exposure of DDE gained more than 20 extra pounds.

Study participants were taken from a larger research sample first recruited in the 1970s with scientists approaching the daughters of these women in 2000. Experts also examined the correlation between PCBs, a chemical used in flame retardants and hydraulic fluids, and obesity, but no link was found.

Via ScienceDaily.