Background DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) was first synthesized in 1877,1 but it was not until 1940 that a Swiss chemist discovered that it could be sprayed on walls and would cause any insect to die within the next six months, without any apparent toxicity to humans.2 DDT’s … Continue reading The Greatest Unfounded Health Scares of Recent Times, Part I: DDT, by Adam J. Lieberman (1967-1997) and Simona C. Kwon, M.P.H.