Once hailed as a miracle pesticide, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) has proved detrimental to human health and the environment. Banned in the United States since 1972, it is regarded as a possible carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is known to damage the human liver and the reproductive system. In addition, studies show that DDT and its related forms decimated the North American bald eagle population when the chemicals entered the food chain. But perhaps most troubling about the toxin is its resistance to remediation efforts and its persistence in the environment: according to the EPA, DDT may take more than 15 years to fully decompose. However, researchers in Australia and the United Kingdom have shown that introducing seaweed into moist soil contaminated with DDT may accelerate the chemical's degradation
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