The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "DDT" ...
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Witnesses Wait
Humans have found ways to synthesize chemicals that cause terrible damage in the human body and do not decompose; they last and last. Most companies that produce these compounds locate away from people, in industrial zones. But in one neighborhood of New Orleans, an old chemical company mixed some of the most hazardous substances ever produced by man: Agent Orange, Heptachlor, Endosulfan, Dieldrin and DDT. They produced these chemicals out in the open on a small parcel of land ringed by people's homes. The wind blew the dry chemicals onto the houses, and there has been no effort to remove the soil or the risk to people who play and raise children and gardens there. Using an EPA database and Google Earth, the reporter found that there is no place more polluted with old, canned, organo-chlorine insecticides than this tiny, black, new Orleans neighborhood.
Tags: Pollution; Agent Orange; heptachlor; endosulfan; dieldrin; DDT; New Orleans; soil contamination; EPA; Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
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Toxic Chemicals Taint Barton Water
At least half a million visitors swim in this a natural pool in Barton Springs, Texas. As these reporters reveal this water is contaminated with carcinogens including DDT and other benzene-based carcinogens. Apparently, the authorities knew about this since eight years but had not stopped people from swimming in the pool. After this series of investigations though the authorities ordered an investigation.
Tags: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry; carcinogens; DDT; benzene; Barton Springs; Public Health
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Choice of Evils: As a Tropical Scourge Makes a Comeback, So, Too, Does DDT
The Wall Stree Journal reports on the use of DDT by African countries in a desperate attempt to fight malaria and other diseases. "DDT kills birds and other wild species, but ... malaria kills children - about one every 40 seconds in sub-Saharan Africa," reveals the story. The report points out that in recent years the mosquito and the malaria parasite it spreads have evolved more resistance to DDT alternatives and to drugs. Mozambique remains the only country in southern Africa, which is leery of the pesticide, and thus does not comply with "a concerted regional attack" on malaria, the Journal reports.
Tags: malaria; cholera; health; South Africa; Mozambique; mosquitos; diseases; pollution; environment; wildlife
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What's in your green tea?
This article looks at how one woman discovered the green tea she was drinking while recovering from breast cancer surgery contained traces of DDT. The author also looks at the prevalence of DDT in meats, fruits and vegetables and what safety measures the U.S. is taking
Tags: Pesticides; DDT; EPA; breast cancer; vegetables
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Where Eagles Die
Antigovernment zealots and a mystery toxin in Wisconsin have undercut the astounding revival of the bald eagles. A large number of eagle deaths were atrributed to environmental terrorism. Scientists were unable to discover the cause of deaths for eagles dying in southern Wisconsin despite testing for every known pesticide and avian disease. In Arkansas, two-thirds of the winter eagle population were found dead or dying. (January 1996)
Tags: Reynolds; Where eagles die; U.S. fish and wildlife service; National wildlife health center; Arkansas game and fish commission; DDT; National audubon society; Environmental protection agency; 10pgs
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Is the Modern World Giving Us Cancer?
Health magazine looks at the claims of "maverick scientist" Devra Lee Davis, who for more than 15 years has argued that environmental pollutants are causing an increase in some cancers, particularly in people over age 55.
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Havoc in the Hormones
Audubon Magazine reports that "Pollutants like dioxin and pesticides have upset the reproductive systems of alligators and gulls. Now, researchers theorize, the contaminants may be threatening humans."
Tags: pesticides polychlorinated biphenyls PCBs dioxins pollution toxic chemicals DDT endocrine systems
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No title (id: 10376)
The Nation discusses how a toxic link to breast cancer may have been found with the relationship between it and man-made chemicals such as DDT, PCBs and dioxin; article discusses the medical aspects of the link and how the level of such chemicals has proliferated, June 20, 1994.
Tags: NY Greene Ratner 5 pages
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No title (id: 9493)
The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.) reports on the threat that pollution poses for California's largest lake, the Salton Sea; wildlife is threatened by the buildup of toxins such as DDT and selenium in the lake; agriculture is the main cause for the lake's demise; looks for solutions to the ecological disaster, Jan. 3 - 10, 1993. # CA Polakovic Medd Sedam-Stone wetlands
Tags: None
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No title (id: 9468)
Metro Times (Detroit) looks at environmental carcinogens and their link to breast cancer; finds that chemical manufacturers that make the substances in question also produce anti-cancer drugs, while at the same time funding efforts to discredit research into industrial causes of cancer; reports on the connection of chlorine production and breast cancer, May 19 - 25, 1993. # MI Paulsen DDT herbicides golf courses
Tags: None