DDE at low dietary levels kills captive American kestrels

Two of 14 male American kestrels died after 14 and 16 months on a diet containing 2.8 p.p.m., wet weight, p, p'-DDE. The brains of the two birds contained DDE residues of 213 and 301 p.p.m. compared with 14.9 p.p.m. (range, 4.47-26.6 p.p.m.) (wet weights) for 11 of the adult males which were sacrificed after 12 to 16 months on dosage. Autopsies of the two birds compared with autopsies of the sacrificed birds, revealed other characteristics typical of DDE poisoning. Neither bird, when autopsied, displayed characteristics which would suggest that they died of causes other than DDE poisoning.