DDT is banned in countries like the USA and Britain, but is still sold by unscrupulous manufacturers to Third World companies. Of course, this doesn’t stop DDT appearing on vegetables in your supermarket today.
Now researchers have shown that DDT may link to both the risk and severity of Alzheimer’s disease, especially in people over the age of 60.
The research was perhaps not as clear as some would have hoped but scientists from Rutgers University and Emory University compared the blood of 86 people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease with that of 79 healthy people, balancing the age and background details of both groups. DDT breaks down rapidly in the blood to a chemical, DDE. Levels of DDE in the group with Alzheimer’s were roughly 3.8 times higher than those in the healthy group.
However, some healthy people had very high levels of DDE and seemed to be able to cope. The disease also pre-dated DDT, but, of course, not other dangerous pesticides.
The link needs further explaining.
