Science Forums 2

[Michaelangelica]

Who makes the DDT
thought i'd go looking

Would you let this company go out with your daughter?

Dow CEO Andrew N. Liveris called 2005 the company's "best year ever" with operating profits of $5.4 billion, a jump of 56.5% compared with the previous year.

The Dow Chemical Company is the world's largest manufacturer of chemicals, with annual sales exceeding USD30 billion.
As the world's largest producer of chlorine, an essential component of the potential cancer-causing chemical, dioxin, Dow is undoubtedly the largest root source of dioxin on the planet.
In addition, through its subsidiary Dow AgroSciences, Dow is one of the largest producers of insecticides (Dursban), herbicides (Clincher) and fungicides, and has produced some of the most dangerous pesticides known to man, including DDT, Dursban, and 2,4,5-T, the active ingredient of Agent Orange.
Dow is now increasing its investment in genetically modified crops that can withstand high doses of its pesticides.

groundWork
Dow Chemical is currently ranked as the tenth worst corporate air polluter in the United States, releasing more than 157,000 pounds of toxins per year into American air.[10] Dow has also been linked to 96 of the United States' worst toxic waste dumps; according to Environmental Protection Agency documents, Dow is one of the top ten parties potentially responsible for Superfund toxic sites. [11][/QUOTE]
Human Rights / Environmental Disasters

Dow has one of the worst environmental legacies of any major company, encompassing Agent Orange (The Dow Chemical Company - Knowmore, Asbestos, Dioxin, Dursban, DDT, Nemagon and Napalm.

But Dow wasn't the uncontested world leader in industrial accidents until they bought Union Carbide in 2001, and with it the legacy of the Bhopal catastrophe.
[edit]
Bhopal Disaster
The Bhopal Disaster of 1984 was the worst industrial disaster in the history of the world. It was caused by the accidental release of forty metric tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) from a Union Carbide India, Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant located in the heart of the city of Bhopal, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

The Dow Chemical Company - Knowmore

Overview
Dow Chemical is responsible for producing some of the most infamous chemicals, from Agent Orange and napalm for use in the Vietnam War, to ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and the widely used insecticide Dursban. Dow has a history of unethical behavior, including testing its chemicals on humans and withholding information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Union Carbide, acquired by Dow in 1999, owned the chemical plant in Bhopal, India that released methyl isocyanate and other chemicals, causing one of the worst environmental disasters in history in 1984. World Bank guidelines for private sector partnerships1 indicate that a company with a such a poor record of corporate social responsibility should not be eligible for a partnership with the Bank.

Damaging developing countries
Pesticide causes infertility
Dow and three other companies continued to produce and export the extremely hazardous pesticide DBCP to developing countries after it was banned in the continental U.S. in 1979. The U.S. ban occurred after DBCP, one of Pesticide Action Network's Dirty Dozen pesticides, was linked to human sterility in California.

PANNA: Dow Corporate Fact Sheet

Where is DDT produced? How much?
According to the Farm Chemicals Handbook 2001, DDT is
produced in India and China. Hindustan Insecticides Limited
(HIL) is the government-owned company responsible for
production in India, and Shenzhen Jiangshan Commerce and
Industry Corporation in Shenzhen produces DDT in China.5
Accurate production data are difficult to confirm. In India,
the first DDT plant was constructed in 1954. HIL is the sole
manufacturer of technical grade DDT in India, and has
capacity to produce an estimated 9,000 metric tons of DDT
per year. According to data provided by Chemexil, India
exported DDT to the following countries in 1998 and 1999:
Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Nepal, Israel, Italy and the
United States.6 No production or export information is available
from the Shenzhen plant in China.

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taken place.21
Does DDT work to control malaria?
Yes, when used in a focused way and in limited settings, DDT
continues to help save thousands of lives each year. At the
same time, DDT's limits and failures should be recognized.
WHO's Expert Committee on Malaria still finds use of DDT
acceptable but has noted that it "should only be used in well
defined, high or special risk situations." The Pan American
Health Organization (PAHO) has expressed strong reservations
about broad-scale application of DDT for malaria control,
and reports that indoor spraying has not been helpful in
interrupting malaria transmission in situations of political or
social instability.22
Do mosquitoes develop resistance to DDT?
Yes, mosquitoes develop resistance to DDT. The lack of
spraying in parts of Africa for a number of years may make it
possible to use DDT effectively again, but this prospect may
weaken over time as DDT exposure creates new resistance. In
India, vector species are resistant to DDT and malathion both
when used separately and when sprayed together.23
How do countries control malaria without DDT?
Countries that have moved away from DDT use for malaria
control use a combination of drugs, bednets treated with synthetic
pyrethroids, and applying chemicals to breeding areas or
houses. The World Wildlife Fund has documented the experience
in the Kheda district in India, where non-chemical approaches
were demonstrated to be cost-effective. In the Philippines
the national program has relied on treated bed nets and
spraying of alternative chemicals. 24
How is malaria controlled in India and Mexico?
INDIA: India, which spends one-third of its current national
health budget on malaria control, is an important case study to
understand that the effectiveness of DDT is on the wane. The
rural mosquito vector that transmits 65 percent of India's malaria
is resistant to DDT (and also to two other

-- http://www.panna.org/campaigns/docsP...ops_020501.pdf