Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 19, Number 22, DeMotte, Jasper County, 29 April 1949 — AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT ISSUED STATEMENT ON DDT [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT ISSUED STATEMENT ON DDT

The Federal Security Agency and the Department of Agriculture today issued the following statement recently after a meeting of the principal Government agencies concerned with the utilization of DDT in national and international health and economy: “A number of statements have been published during the last several days which have misled and alarmed the public concerning the hazards of using DDT as an insecticide. “DDT is a very valuable insecticide which has contributed materially to the general welfare of the world.‘lt has been used with marked success in both the control and prevention of such ipsectborne diseases as malaria and typhus and of insects which are destructive to crops and injurious to livestock and infect homes. “It is well recognized that DDT, like other insecticides, is a poison. This fact has been given full consideration in making reeommenations for its use. There is no evidence that the use of DDT in accordance with the recommendations of the various Federal agencies has ever caused human sickness due to the DDT itself. This is fact that thousands of tons have been used annually for the past four or five years in the home and for crop and animal protection. However, minor toxic symptoms may be produced by kerosene and various solvents

used in DDT ana practically all other insecticidal mixtures. “Statements that DDT is responsible for causing the so-call-ed “virus X disease” of man and “X disease” of cattle are totally without foundation. Both of these diseases were recognized before the urilization of DDT as an insecticide. “The Food and Drug Administration has not prohibited the use of DDT in spraying dairy cattle and barns. The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act requires the Food and Drug Administration to insure that the food supply of the American people does not contain any poisonous or- deleterious substance that is not necessary in the production of the food. Studies by the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine have shown that DDT when used on dairy cattle or when present on fodder fed to dairy cattle may appear in the milk. They also say that DDT in small quantities can be detected 1 sometimes in milk following ordinary use of the insecticide for fly control in dairy barns. Because of the vital importance of milk in the diet of infants, children and people of all ages, it is essential that proper precautions be taken to protect the milk supply. Modifications of the recommendation made by the Department of Agriculture on the use of DDT on dairy cattle were made merely as a precautionary measure. “There is no justification for

public alarm as to the safety of the milk supply from the standpoint of DDT contamination.” The above statement was issued following a meeting of representatives of these agencies: Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Administration, Bureaus of Animal Industry, Dairy Industry and Entomology and Marketing Administration. Inand Plant Quarantine, Production secticide Division, Department of the Army, Office of the Surgeon General, Federal Security Agency, Food and Drug Administration, Public Health Servic , Department of the Navy, Bureau of Medicine and Surgeiy. Pan American Sanitary Bureau.