DDT

DDT (Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane) is one of the best known synthetic pesticides. In the second half of World War 2 DDT was used with a great effect on both military and civilian to control insects and animals spreading malaria and lice. After the war, DDT was made available for use as an agricultural insecticide. In 1962, the book silent spring by an American biologist Rachel Carson was published. The book suggested that DDT and other pesticides may cause cancer and that their agricultural was a threat to wild life, particularly birds.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD