Question

Which one of the following statements is true?

a. DDT does not help prevent disease from passing from agricultural animals to humans.
b. Cost was a major factor in the United States government's decision to ban DDT.
c. Many African governments concluded that the potential long-term health effects of DDT were not as serious as the immediate problem of insect control.
d. DDT cannot accumulate in the fat of animals.
e. The DDT ban in the United States has made it very difficult to control agricultural insect pests.

Answer 1

The true statement is that many African governments prioritized the immediate effectiveness of DDT for insect control over potential long-term health effects. DDT is known for its environmental persistence, leading to bioaccumulation and adverse impacts on wildlife.

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct statement among the options given is that many African governments concluded that the potential long-term health effects of DDT were not as serious as the immediate problem of insect control. This reflects the decision-making process where the immediate benefits of controlling diseases such as malaria were prioritized over the potential long-term environmental and health impacts of DDT.

DDT was indeed deployed to prevent diseases that passed from agricultural animals to humans and was used effectively against pests like malarial mosquitoes. Moreover, DDT does accumulate in the fat of animals, a process known as bioaccumulation, leading to harmful environmental effects, such as the thinning of eggshells in birds. The ban of DDT in the United States was largely due to environmental reasons, not cost, and alternatives to controlling agricultural pests have been developed since its ban.

Answer 2

Option (c).

Step-by-step explanation:

DDT is a chemical that was generally used as a pesticide in the agricular fields. The initial use of DDT was to control the malaria, body lice and other harmful disease.

The African governments previously declared that long term effects of DDT were not serious as the immediate problem to control the insect. According to them, the immediate use of DDT nullify its long term bad effects.

Thus, the correct answer is option (c).