The federal government banned the use of DDT in the early 1970's, but more than 50 years later, researchers are still finding fish off the coast of Southern California that have the dangerous pesticide their system. "I don't think anyone believed that it would be a problem for as long as it has been," said Lillian McGill, who helped lead the research team at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Her team has been looking into the long term affects of DDT in the fish we eat. Between 1940 and 1970, the company that made DDT dumped hundreds of tons of contaminated waste into the ocean at several different sites, including spots off the coast of San Diego. Videos shot years later show huge barrels of it sitting on the ocean's floor. "Across the entire Southern California bite, there are definitely hot spots of DDT where you need to be really careful about what you eat," McGill said. She added that a surprising find in their study is that the DDT didn't really spread very far from the spots where it was dumped. That said, the sediment in those spots was definitely contaminated. MORE: https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/ddt-found-in-fish-50-years-after-its-ban/509-a4db2639-6f4a-4d3b-b8a2-063b9f6ea736