This is the most inane comment I've ever heard. DDT was banned because it was found to have horrible environmental effects, namely the threat it posed to birds and their eggs. It has nothing to do with malaria. People have been dieing from malaria for millions of years and DDT clearly does not provide any solution. The problem with malaria is that because it is in predominately poor regions, pharmaceutical companies do not have any financial incentive to research for a cure.
"I can tell you that DDT is not a carcinogen and did not cause birds to die and should never have been banned. I can tell you that the people who banned it knew that it wasn't carinogenic and banned it anyway. I can tell you that the DDT ban has caused the deaths of tens of millions of poor people, mostly children, whose deaths are directly attributable to a callous, technologically advanced western socitey that promoted the new cause of environmentalism by pushing a fantasy about a pesticide, and thus irrevocably harmed the third world. Banning DDT is one of the most disgraceful episodes in the twentieth century history of America." (M. Crichton-Remarks to the Commonwealth Club 9/15/03)