About Fricken' Time!
From
UPI:
DDT about to be reintroduced as pesticide
GENEVA, Switzerland, July 27 (UPI) -- One of the most controversial chemicals on Earth -- DDT -- is about to make a comeback as a prime weapon in the fight against malaria in Africa.
Scientists say DDT helped eradicate malaria from the United States during the 1940s, but was indiscriminately overused for agricultural purposes during the 1950s and 1960s.
Beginning in the 1970s, the United States and several European nations banned the pesticide, largely due to concerns about environmental harm. Pressure from international agencies also led many African countries to abandon DDT's use.
But the world's malaria epidemic continued to escalate, killing an estimated 1 million people annually -- about 90 percent of them children under the age of 5 in sub-Saharan Africa.
Now, the World Health Organization is set to endorse the use of DDT for malaria control and the U.S. Agency for International Development has approved DDT's reintroduction.
Scientists, reporting in the August issue of the journal Nature, say evidence suggests specific use of the chemical in targeted indoor house-spraying programs should pose a low risk of adverse consequences on the environment and on human health.
Congratulations to all the enviros who pushed this back until now. The deaths of two million people each year are on your souls.
The knee-jerk reaction to DDT (ooooo -- baaaaad!!!) comes from the fact that in the 50s and 60s, we were marinating the ecosystem in it. It doesn't harm mammals. The damage to egg shells and the concept of "beneficial insects" didn't come until later. Still, we were getting a lot of deaths from Malaria that could have been cured from a light dusting.
The UN and WHO tried other techniques that were either too complicated or expensive. The solution was always out there, a minimal dusting of DDT inside the house on the walls but DDT was always baaaaad!!!
Like I say, about fricken' time...
Hat tip to
Junk Science
Posted by DaveH at July 29, 2006 9:40 PM