You know how everybody “knows” that DDT is toxic to humans? That it’s a terible carcinogen? Perhaps its not. Perhaps banning DDT causes unnecessary human deaths.

“In 1956, a group of human volunteers ingesting DDT for periods of from 12 to 18 months at 1,750 times the average amount for the U.S. population showed no adverse effects either at the conclusion of the trial or in follow-up studies 5 years later. A 1964 study of the incidence of different forms of cancer from all areas of the U.S. from 1927 to the early 1960s showed no correlation with the use patterns of DDT, nor with its presence in food or human body tissues.

“Similar results were reported from studies of industrial workers exposed for years to 600 to 900 times the intake of the general population, inhabitants of tropical countries who had been liberally dusted with DDT, and the work crews employed in applying it as spray and powder. The FDA had conducted prolonged investigations of 15 groups of heavily exposed persons, each group consisting of 100 individuals matched with controls, that looked especially for gradual or delayed effects – but found none.”

From “Saving The Mosquitoes,” a chapter out of Kicking the Sacred Cow: Questioning the Unquestionable and Thinking the Impermissible by James P. Hogan.