Toxic Tort Legal Glossary: D

DDT: The first chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticide chemical name: Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane. It has a half-life of 15 years and can collect in fatty tissues of certain animals. EPA banned registration and interstate sale of DDT for virtually all but emergency uses in the United States in 1972 because of its persistence in the environment and accumulation in the food chain.

Decontamination: Removal of harmful substances such as noxious chemicals, harmful bacteria or other organisms, or radioactive material from exposed individuals, rooms and furnishings in buildings, or the exterior environment.

Defendant: The party from whom the plaintiff is seeking damages or corrective action because of a negligent, unlawful or improper act

Deposition: Sworn testimony taken under oath prior to trial before a court reporter in a place away from the courtroom.

Dermal Toxicity: The ability of a pesticide or toxic chemical to poison people or animals by contact with the skin.

Designer Bugs: Popular term for microbes developed through biotechnology that can degrade specific toxic chemicals at their source in toxic waste dumps or in ground water.

Dioxin: Any of a family of compounds known chemically as dibenzo-p-dioxins. Concern about them arises from their potential toxicity and contaminants in commercial products. Tests on laboratory animals indicate that it is one of the more toxic man-made compounds.

Direct Examination: The first questioning of a witness during a trial or deposition.

Discovery: The pre-trial process in which a party to a lawsuit may obtain information from the opposing party and potential witnesses via demands for production of documents, depositions, written interrogatories, written requests for admissions of fact, examination of the scene, and employment of petitions and motions to enforce these rights.

Disinfectant: Any oxidant, including but not limited to chlorine, chlorine dioxide, chloramines, and ozone, which is added to water in any part of the treatment or distribution process and is intended to kill or inactivate pathogenic microorganisms.

Disposal: Final placement or destruction of toxic, radioactive, or other wastes; surplus or banned pesticides or other chemicals; polluted soils; and drums containing hazardous materials from removal actions or accidental releases. Disposal may be accomplished through use of approved secure landfills, surface impoundments, land farming, deep-well injection, ocean dumping, or incineration.

Distillation: The act of purifying liquids through boiling, so that the steam condenses to a pure liquid and the pollutants remain in a concentrated residue.

Dump: A land site where wastes are discarded in a disorderly or haphazard fashion without regard to protecting the environment. Uncontrolled dumping is an indiscriminate and illegal form of waste disposal. Problems associated with dumps include multiplication of disease-carrying organisms and pests, fires, air and water pollution, unsightliness, loss of habitat, and personal injury.