Study links pesticide in fish to diabetes

ATLANTA, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Eating fish caught in the Great Lakes has been linked to diabetes through a chemical byproduct of the pesticide DDT, a new U.S. study finds.

Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracked boat captains in the Great Lakes for 15 year, the Chicago Tribune reports. The study found captains who ate more fish were more likely to have in their bodies DDE, a byproduct of DDT, and the researchers found a link between DDE and diabetes.

DDT has been banned in the United States for 37 years. But the pesticide was once heavily used in agricultural areas around the Great Lakes and it remains in the water, along with its byproduct DDE, because of the slow turnover in the lakes.

Bruce Fowler of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at the CDC said DDE becomes more concentrated as it proceeds up the food chain from small fish to larger fish.

"Sports fishermen are at the top of the food chain," he said.

The study did not determine how DDE causes diabetes.