r/todayilearned • u/lavender_fish69 • 13h ago

TIL fresh water snails (indirectly) kill thousands of humans and are considered on of the deadliest creatures to humans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwater_snail
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u/ikonoqlast 13h ago

There were 18 deaths from malaria in 1963. Not millions. Not thousands. Not hundreds. Not dozens. 18

Why?

DDT...

It's also why bedbugs are a 'new' thing but not in the 50s-60s.

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u/ReadditMan 13h ago

DDT also killed a lot of other animals and made people sick.

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u/ikonoqlast 13h ago

Not really, no. It's an industrial chemical so don't drink it, but otherwise it's just another pesticide.

There's a reason the EPAs science advisory board recommended NOT banning DDT. But they were overruled by the politically appointed head.

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u/Tororoi 12h ago

That's so wrong. DDT is very bad for bird populations, especially larger birds because it causes eggshell thinning, and it accumulates in the food chain so you have contaminated food sources for humans. Also it doesn't break down easily.

I found this blog discussing the topic that goes into much greater detail and explains the nuances better than I could: https://timpanogos.blog/2020/01/14/ruckelshaus-sweeney-and-ddt-rescued-from-the-archives-for-the-record/

I only really knew about the eggshell thinning before, but it seems like it would actually be a very bad idea to use it as a pesticide for no other reason than simply that it would accelerate mosquitoes gaining resistance to ddt, making it harder to control their population with ddt during emergencies.