414 



Representative Keefe asked why the enforcement was placed with 

 the Department of Agriculture rather than with the Food and Drug 

 Administration. Representative Flannagan explained that the bill 

 was an amendment of existing legislation, and merely extended previ- 

 ous authorization. Representative Andresen agreed that government 

 reorganization was necessary, including a consolidation of functions, 

 but that he hoped "in view of the emergency [nature] of the measure," 

 that the question would not be pursued at that moment. Subsequently, 

 the House passed the bill by a voice vote.-* 



^ The Senate gave the bill even more perfunctory consideration. The 

 bill was reported by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and For- 

 estry, May 26, without public hearings. The report consisted merely 

 of a favorable recommendation, and the inclusion of the House com- 

 mittee report.25 The bill was taken up on the Senate floor, June 16, 

 Senator Ellender, chairman of the committee, explained its purposes 

 and said it had received the unanimous approval of his committee. 

 Then the Senate, without comment or debate, passed the bill by a 

 voice vote.^^ 



JII. Growing Awareness of Important Secondary Effects of 



PESTICroE RESroUES 



Following a series of specific investigations in 1943 and 1944 by the 

 Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine of the Department of 

 Agriculture, and other agencies, a more elaborate series of field in- 

 vestigations into the toxicity and ecological effects of DDT were jointly 

 undertaken in 1945 by the Bureau in cooperation with the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior. A condensed sum- 

 mary of the findings of the many reports that came out of this study 

 was presented in Circular 11, DDT : "Its Effect on Fish and Wild- 

 life," ^^ published by the Department of the Interior in 1946. The re- 

 port contained such items as the following : 



Spray drifting about 150 feet from the sprayed area to a small gravel-pit pond 

 killed all the golden shiners and pumpkin-seed sunfish in it. 



In one drained pond that had been sprayed with 0.1 pound to the acre, there 

 was a loss of 43 percent among all species. 



Within 48 hours after the application of DDT to the final portion of the area 

 on June 1, the bird population (which had been 1.6 pairs to the acre before spray- 

 ing) was much reduced. On June 13, the area contained only 0.5 birds to the 

 acre. 



Most of the crayfish on the area were readily killed by the DDT solution applied 

 at 0.5 pound to the acre. 



On July 18 reports were received of the dying of many edible crabs, which 

 had appeared in the sprayed area : and on July 21, 150 dead or dying crabs were 

 found over a 200-yard stretch, while those in adjacent upsprayed waters were 

 healthy. 



In all five of the mice that received 0.40 percent of DDT, violent tremors were 

 observed at the beginning of the third day after the first exposure. Before the 

 end of the third day, two of these mice had died. The last mouse lived until the 

 21st day, although decided tremors were evident throughout the period. 



Of the quail fed mash containing 0.05 percent or more of DDT, all died. 



2* Congressional Record (May 12, 1947), p. 5054. 



23 U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. Regulating the Mar- 

 keting of Economic Poisons and Devices. Renort (to accompanv H.R. 1237). S. Rept. No. 

 199, 80th Cong., 1st sess.. May 26, 1947. (Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 

 1947), 8 p. 



28 Congressional Record (June 16, 1947), pp. 7007-7008. 



27T'.S. Department of the Interior. Fish and Wildlife Service. "DDT: Its Effect on Fish 

 and Wildlife." Circular 11. By Clarence Cottam and Elmer Higgins. (Washington, U.S., 

 Government Printing Office, 1946), 14 pp. 



