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Cases / Pesticides and agrochemicals · United States · 1972–2019

US bans DDT in 1972; bald eagle breeding pairs rebound

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

The EPA banned DDT in 1972, and the bald eagle was removed from the protected list in 2007. Breeding pairs in 48 states rose from 417 in 1963 to 71,467 in the 2018-2019 counts, while lead poisoning still affected about 46 percent of eagles tested.

What?
The EPA banned DDT in the United States in 1972, and bald eagle populations later recovered; the species was removed from the protected list in 2007. US Fish and Wildlife Service
Where?
United States, 48 states US Fish and Wildlife Service
When?
Ban in 1972; eagle counts from 1963 to 2018-2019; removal from the protected list in 2007 US Fish and Wildlife Service
Who?
Gained
Lost
None on record
Harmed
Why?
The sources reviewed link the ban to DDT thinning eagles' eggshells. US Fish and Wildlife Service
How?
A federal ban on DDT issued by the EPA. EPA Journal (EPA archive)
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

The EPA banned DDT in 1972, according to an EPA Journal article on the recovery of eagles and other birds after the ban (EPA archive).

Bald eagle breeding pairs in 48 states rose from 417 in 1963 to 71,467 in the 2018-2019 counts, and the species was removed from the protected list in 2007 (US Fish and Wildlife Service).

The Stockholm Convention, in force since 2004, allows DDT only against disease-carrying mosquitoes such as malaria vectors where no equivalent alternative exists, and in 2020 an expert group proposed a focused phase-out (Stockholm Convention secretariat).

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: that the 1963 baseline was about 487 pairs in another official document.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: the announcement date of 14 June 1972, the effective date of 31 December 1972, and that the ban exempted public health emergencies.
    • None on record Not stated in the sources reviewed: how much of the eagle recovery came from habitat protection rather than the ban.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    2. Bald eagle population and recovery causes
      US Fish and Wildlife Service ·
    3. DDT overview
      Stockholm Convention secretariat ·

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Institutions

    EPA
    The US Environmental Protection Agency.

    Carbon and conservation finance

    Baseline
    The projected scenario of what would have happened without a project, such as an expected rate of deforestation. Credits are issued for the difference between the baseline and what actually happened, so an inflated baseline produces more credits.

    Science and environment

    PFOA (C8) and PFAS
    PFAS are a large family of human-made chemicals that persist in the environment and the body; PFOA, also called C8, is one of them and was used to make Teflon.
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