Bob wrote " a higher amount of DDT is being used today in our fields  
than in the day of Rachael Carson".

As we have noted, DDT use was banned decades ago. I realize that it  
could still be used illegally and under certain circumstances. But at  
its peak, it was being applied at the rate of 178 million pounds per  
year in the US!

DDT is very persistent in the environment, will accumulate in fatty  
tissues, and can travel long distances in the upper atmosphere. Since  
the use of DDT was discontinued in the United States, its  
concentration in the environment and animals has decreased, but  
because of its persistence, residues of concern from historical use  
still remain.

Production of DDT
reached its peak during the early 1960s at 81
million kg/yr. By 1966, although production
had decreased, agricultural applications
accounted for about 38% of the DDT
used in the United States. By the early
1970s, use of DDT in the United States had
declined dramatically to 4.5–6.4 million
kg/yr, and its primary use was for pest control
on cotton crops. However, agricultural
regions were not the only areas with
potential DDT contamination. It has been
estimated that 2 million kg of DDT was
expelled into the Los Angeles sewer system
between 1949 and 1970.

The preceding is an excerpt from a paper written by Suzanne Snedeker,  
whom I know. In fact, she works in the building which is connected to  
mine. Although I obtained this excerpt from "The Internet" I am quite  
sure she has paper copies of it.

Available online at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/pmc/articles/PMC1240541/

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