[back] Polio and DDT

Question:
DDT was not banned until 1972 ... so there goes that theory. And DDT is still widely used outside the USA, yet paralytic polio  cases are at an all-time low in those countries.

Answer by Jim West:
DDT production increased mostly for export out of the US.
DDT began to be replaced with OP pesticides.  Phase-out towards 1968
(cancellation of registration of DDT).
The public perception of DDT went from 'safe' before 1951 to 'cannot use around dairy farms', must be properly labelled.  Dangers began to become obvious, and farmers woke up re methods of usage.
Note on my site the declining DDT found in lipid testing of US citizens throughout the 1950s.
This means DDT was being consumed less.  By not using in milk products, children were not getting DDT as in 1945-1955.  1951 marks the DDT/polio Senate hearings AND the decline of polio.
DDT was just one major organochlorine, note the rise and fall of BHC conforming perfectly with polio.
I explain/handle DDT after 1954 on my website.

 

All CNS poisons apparently contribute to the phenomena called 'polio', because of the obvious correlations:  timeline, location, dosage, exposure, physiology, symptoms.

See the graphs on the main articles on my site.
http://www.geocities.com/harpub

Main persistent pesticides which dominated the environment, in dairy, meat
(fatty foods are the best carriers):

Lead compounds
Arsenic compounds
DDT
BHC

I see that outright paralysis lessened when these were phased out, and CFS, MS, etc., became common with the advent of the more subtle pesticides (OPs).
  Subtle toxins produced subtle diseases.

Production in the U.S. and changes in usage and usage methods caused the decline of exposure to these -- leading to 1968, and 1972.