DDT's insecticidal action was discovered by the Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Müller in 1939. DDT was used in the second half of World War II to limit the spread of the insect-borne diseases malaria and typhus among civilians and troops.

Feb 14, 2017 · In an experiment in Naples, Italy, American soldiers dusted more than a million Italians with DDT, killing the body lice that spread typhus and saving the city from a devastating epidemic. It was a dramatic debut. DDT quickly began …

Mar 17, 2025 · During and after World War II, DDT was found to be effective against lice, fleas, and mosquitoes (the carriers of typhus, of plague, and of malaria and yellow fever, respectively) as well as the Colorado potato beetle, the spongy …

On August 31, 1945—three days before the end of World War II—the War Production Board revoked its allocation order reserving the insecticide for military use. Certification by government agencies for almost unrestricted agricultural, household, and other uses swiftly followed.

If there is a single pesticide almost everyone can name, it’s DDT. DDT was one of the first chemicals in widespread use as a pesticide. Following World War II, it was promoted as a wonder-chemical, the simple solution to pest problems large and small.

As World War II began in Europe, DDT was successfully tested in Switzerland initially as a dusting powder against potato beetles and later against lice and fleas. These successes, however, convinced Geigy that DDT was a powerful synthetic insecticide — fatal on contact in extremely minute quantities to a wide range of insects, yet apparently ...

Mar 25, 2025 · During World War II, the military used DDT to control insect-borne diseases like malaria and typhus among soldiers and civilians. It was sprayed over vast areas to kill disease-carrying mosquitoes and lice, proving so effective that it was hailed as a life-saving breakthrough.

DDT is the common name of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, an insecticide that was used in WWII to prevent the spread of malaria and typhus among troops. Except for the use of malaria control, it is now widely banned.

1 day ago · DDT in particular promised to combat insects that carried diseases or destroyed farmers’ crops. ... After it was successfully used to fight disease during World War II, DDT’s production soared.

During the war, DDT was used to save the lives of millions of soldiers and civilians from insect-borne disease, making this the first war in which disease did not kill more people than the war it-self. Right: DDT residual spraying of a hut with a mobile power spray. Left: DDT dusting in World War II. . . . And Now. The race to eliminate DDT.