Deadly Prejudice is the title of an article written by Steve Forbes in Forbes Magazine. Mr. Forbes writes “Nearly every month almost as many people die from malaria as were killed by the tsunami waves in the Indian Ocean. Most of malaria’s victims some 2,000,000 a year, are children under the age of 5. More than 300,000,000 annually suffer from this debilitating disease that drain survivors of their mental and physical energies. Incredibly, there is an easy proven way to eradicate most of the globe’s malaria---DDT. Yet in one of histories more murderously myopic ongoing activities, most advanced countries and international agencies discourage its use. Why? Blame Rachel Carson’s seismically influential—book, Silent Spring first published in 1962. In it she blames DDT for imperiling birds and people, portraying it as a blight of almost biblical proportion. It isn’t so. As Dr. Elizabeth Whelan of the American Council on Science and Health once put it, there “has never been a documented case of human illness or death as a result of the standard and accepted use of pesticides.” The British medical journal The Lancet similarly notes that after 40 years of research no significant health threat from DDT has been found. Indiscriminate use of DDT will indeed have a deleterious impact on certain birds. The use of tiny amounts inside house or hut is all that is needed to stop malaria devastating affects on human lives. Nicholas Kristof observed “Four hundred fifty thousand people can be protected (from malaria) with the same amount of DDT that was applied to a single 1000 acre cotton field in the 1960’s. Humans are far better off exposed to DDT than exposed to malaria.”
Yet Carson’s book has made DDT taboo—with ghastly results. Some 30 to 60 million people have perished unnecessarily. In 1996, for example, South Africa stopped using DDT and its malaria cases increased tenfold. Four years later South Africa reversed itself and employed DDT again and the incidence of malaria dropped 80%. That various agencies, governments, health officials and environmentalists have deliberately dissuaded the world from using DDT is one of the most immoral moves of modern times.”
Tina Rosenberg writes in the New York Times “DDT is a victim of its success, having thoroughly eliminated malaria in wealth nations that we forget why we once needed it. The very insecticide that eradicated malaria in developed nations has been essentially deactivated as a malaria-control tool today. The paradox is that sprayed in tint quantities inside houses—DDT is most likely to not harmful to people or the environment. Certainly, the possible harm from DDT is vastly outweighed by its ability to save lives. One in 20 African children dies of malaria, and many of those who survived are brain damaged. Each year, 300 to 500 million people worldwide get malaria.”
I recently clipped an article which I have misplaced the says another country in Africa (on the West coast I believe), has returned to using DDT resulting in a drastic reduction in malaria cases
On 2/15/06 a letter to the editors of the JS by Mr. Robert Coats of Peoria reads “From a rational standpoint, any society that accepted only zero-risk activities would be completely non-functional. In determing which risks are acceptable we need to look at all the facts, not just the information that supports our own point of view.”
Radical and extreme environmentalists do not appear to let any of the facts get in their way. They have agendas to fulfill and the apathy in the wealthy parts of the universe lead to billions of dollars lost each year and millions of lives changed forever.
I once belonged to the Sierra Club and some other green organizations. As soon as I realized the radical and extremists had taken over most of these movements, I withdrew support and after a couple of years the mailings asking for money stopped.
“All knowledge is sterile which does not lead to action and end in charity” (Desire-Joseph Cardinal Mercier) “With all thy getting get understanding”
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