Students fly to nationals with DDT project

During the 1940s and 1950s, the pesticide DDT was used to curb malaria, typhus and other insect-borne diseases throughout the developed world. Its widespread use virtually eliminated malaria world-wide. In the U.S., DDT became the agricultural insecticide of choice. 

In 1962, naturalist Rachel Carson's book, "Silent Spring," revealed that the pesticide was poisoning the environment, threatening animal and insect species and endangering human health. The book triggered an environmental movement in the U.S. that limited and, in 1985, banned its domestic use.

This good-and-bad record made DDT a perfect topic for a history project by two seventh-graders from Christ the King School in Westmere, Joan Harrison and Rachel Lee, who won first place at the New York State National History Day competition and a trip in June to the national competition.

Conflicted history

Last fall, history teacher David Veeder directed Joan, 13, of Colonie, and Rachel, 12, of Voorheesville, to pick a subject with a conflicting nature, research it and prepare their results to enter in the National History Day contest.

Their five months of hard work led to the first-place finish at the New York State History Day regional competition in March. This month, they traveled to Washington, D.C., for nationals.

The National History Day organization sponsors events to help elementary and secondary school students identify with history. Participants select a topic related to that year's theme and research it at libraries, archives and museums, through oral history interviews and by visiting historic sites.

This year's theme was "Conflict and Compromise." The students competed on local and state levels to gain a slot at nationals, held at the University of Maryland at College Park each June.

Lily Mazur, a sixth-grader at Christ the King, also participated with an exhibit on the tangled relations between the gray wolf and humans. Lily won third place on the state level and attended nationals as an alternate.

DDT and eagles

Joan and Rachel prepared an exhibit, paper and bibliography on

"DDT, the Killer Cure." The girls found that DDT -- short for "dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane" -- rendered the bald eagle even more vulnerable than had hunting. 

Their research led them to understand why DDT regulation involved conflict and compromise.

After reading "Silent Spring," Rachel said, "We began to find information in newspaper archives, scientific and political journals, even federal law books."

"We learned that at the beginning, in the 1940s, DDT was thought to be a good thing because it killed mosquitoes that transmitted malaria," Joan said.

When DDT helped

During World War II, DDT was sprayed on U.S. soldiers to prevent scabies and lice.

"It was also used in tropical areas in households. They sprayed it on vegetable gardens, inside homes, anywhere where food or people were," Joan noted.

Some soldiers and civilians experienced negative physical effects from the pesticide, such as cancer and neurological problems.

"DDT is stored in the fat cells of animals and affects the endocrine system and inhibits calcium production," Rachel explained.

When DDT hurt

The girls discovered that predators at the top of the food chain, such as the bald eagle, were hurt most. "Because DDT affects calcium production, the bald eagle's egg shells were very thin," Joan said, noting that this decimated the next generation. Eaglets that survived a thin-shell gestation had impaired endocrine systems.

The girls built an exhibit to highlight the eagle's plight. They focused on the two sides of the conflict and the resulting legal compromises.

"We learned that there are several conflicts and compromises in the use of DDT as a pesticide," said Joan. "There is now a world-wide ban on its use."

The girls designed a model ecosystem showing how pesticides sprayed on crops get into the food chain -- through spraying, runoff and groundwater seepage. They also showed that even though DDT is used sparingly in certain Third World countries today to control insects and keep malaria at bay, U.S. coastal areas and the Great Lakes still get new contamination from atmospheric deposits.

DDT is still used but most nations have agreed to ban or strictly limit its use. Because of this, the girls said, the bald eagle has been saved and the environment is cleaner.

Junior scholars

Although they didn't win nationals, the girls acquired a new outlook on scholarship.

"When you do research, you have to keep digging for information. Some information is not easy to find, but it's there, you just have to keep looking," said Joan.

Lily realized that the exhibit is only part of the work. "The exhibit must have good research to back it up, to tell the whole story," she said.

After four days, the girls returned home, but their exhibit remains on display through October in Washington, D.C., at the National Museum of Health and Medicine of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

(For more information, see www.nationalhistoryday.org.)

 (06/26/08) [[In-content Ad]]