It's no secret that world war 2 was a big deal. Be it for different reasons, like how it was statistically the worst war the world has ever seen, and how it inspired a mass genocide. But there's two sides to every story, and world war 2 also brought about advancements in air travel, radio communications and other technologies, not to mention further advancement of women's rights and helping to diminish racism. But if it weren't for the war we would not have access to another incredibly important technology today, and it's not what you might think. World War II was the first war in history where diseases killed fewer people than bombs or bullets. (Ganzel) And the reason was DDT. (Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane) [Early DDt advertisement] DDt was …show more content…
24-d For all consumer popularity DDT received, other pesticides like 2,4-D soon became even bigger sellers. (Ganzel) The herbicide came on the market in 1944 for testing, and hit the store shelves 1 year later. Manufacturers sold 631,000 pounds of it In it first year alone, and 5,315,000 pounds the next. According to times; The U.S. farmer spends over $11 billion on all pesticides, and 58 percent of that money goes to herbicides, 28 percent to insecticides, eight percent to fungicides and the rest to other chemicals. By now, it was more important to the American farmer to kill weeds than insects. (Ganzel) Hundreds of different types of pesticides surfaced in the post war period, marking a new chemical age and lightening the load on american’s backs during the war and for generations after. And soon after the market was established, it paved the way for others as well. Based in Louisiana, what is now America’s top airline started life dusting crops. In the 1920s, Daland Duster service became the first to make a business applying pesticides through the