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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

1,000 pounds of banned DDT found in old Spokane County silo

The new owner of a farm in southeast Spokane County recently uncovered a toxic surprise in the old grain silo.

About 1,000 pounds of the long-banned pesticide DDT was hidden beneath a layer of chaff.

“This was a pretty big find,” said Joe Hoffman, the state Department of Agriculture’s waste pesticide coordinator.

Caches of DDT turn up from time to time, but this was one of the largest discoveries in recent years, he said. Most of the DDT containers had rotted away, so the farmer bagged up the pesticide and used a shipping container donated by the state to transport it to a free pesticide collection event in Spokane last week.

DDT was widely used in the 1950s and 1960s to control mosquitoes and other insects, which is why it’s still found in sheds and other outbuildings. Since 1988, the state has collected more than 70,000 pounds of DDT.

The amount collected “tells me that a lot of people adhered to the (government’s) ban on DDT in 1972,” Hoffman said. “They are to be commended for that.”

Often, DDT is discovered when farms are subdivided or sold, said Chuck Hawley, an investigator with the Idaho Department of Agriculture. He often sees 10 to 100 pounds of DDT at collection events, but “1,000 pounds is a large number.”

Rachel Carson highlighted the dangers of DDT in her 1962 book, “Silent Spring.” The pesticide, which is stored in fat, builds up in the food chain when predators eat insects or other animals. DDT was linked to reproductive failure in many bird species. Its ban is one of the factors credited in the recovery of bald eagle and osprey populations.

Nearly 25,000 pounds of old pesticides were collected at last week’s event in Spokane, which was targeted toward farmers in five Eastern Washington counties. The pesticides were taken to a licensed facility and destroyed.

The state’s goal is to collect “all of the DDT and other obsolete pesticides we can get our hands on,” Hoffman said. “Every container we get is one less out there.”