Not Too Hot To Handle 47 



Administration, Livestock Branch, which casts an eagle eye 

 on the labels of all inseaicides sold in interstate commerce 

 to see to it that no false claims are made and to make certain 

 that the purchaser is fully informed as to all safety precau- 

 tions he must observe when handling the inseaicide. 



Avoid excessive inhalation of the spray or dust! Do 

 not contaminate foodstuffs! If a solution of DDT is acci- 

 dentally spilled on the skin, wash it off with soap and water! 

 That is all that is demanded in the way of caution, except of 

 course, the usual one in the case of inflammable liquids — 

 avoid fire or open flame! There is nothing in these state- 

 ments that should have frightened anyone. Of course you 

 should avoid inhaling insect sprays: most of them contain 

 petroleum solvents which themselves can make you slightly 

 sick if you imbibe or inhale enough. For that matter, you 

 shouldn't breathe any more gasoline fumes or the fumes of 

 cleaning fluids than you can help. As for avoiding contamin- 

 ation of foodstuffs, that also makes sense. You try to keep 

 dust and dirt from getting mixed up with the various in- 

 gredients you use in making a cake, so why shouldn't you 

 also keep DDT out of your food? As for washing your 

 hands when you spill some DDT solution on them, that is 

 not as essential as you may have been led to believe, but never- 

 theless, it's always a good idea to keep your hands clean. 



How Much is Fatal? 



Since no one has ever died from DDT poisoning, k is 

 diflicult to say just what a toxic dose is. If we assume that 

 dogs, cats, and other small animals react in the same way to 

 DDT as does man, we can get some idea. At least we can 

 find out enough to alleviate our fears. Let's start out with 



