Posted on 04/10/2005 2:47:29 PM PDT by CHARLITE
This month, the New Jersey Pest Management Association issued a news release to warn against the prospect of billions of mosquitoes and threat of West Nile Fever they pose. West Nile Fever arrived in New York City in 1999 and, within three years, it had spread to California.
In Washington, an executive order was signed recently to insure that avian flu does not reach these shores and, when a single case of Mad Cow Disease was discovered, the border was shut to Canadian beef. When SAARS broke out in Red China a few years ago, it too was quickly quarantined. Like the Black Death that originated in inner Asia, many of the plagues that threaten us today begin there as well. We, however, live in an era of global communication in which these forms of pestilence can be identified and steps taken to thwart their spread.
That wasn’t the case in 1347 when Yersina pestis, the Black Death, arrived in Europe, having made its way there from trading outposts in the Crimea. In a fascinating new book, “The Great Mortality” by John Kelly ($25.95, HarperCollins), the story of how this plague bacillus would transform history is told as it moved from nation to nation. It is estimated to have killed a third of the entire population of Europe.
“The medieval plague is the second greatest catastrophe in the human record,” writes Kelly. “Only World War II produced more death.” Though distant in time from us, such massive death is not unusual in our times.
Every year, millions die of Malaria in Africa simply because the environmental movement, sparked by a book written by Rachel Carson in the 1950s, has done everything in its power to eliminate the use of DDT and every other pesticide that might otherwise protect our lives.
That is murder on a grand scale. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes. If DDT had not been banned by a United Nations protocol, those millions would have been spared an early death. Its favorite victims continue to be women and children.
The Black Death was spread from infected rats to humans by fleas. Anyone who does not credit Nature with the capacity to wipe out vast numbers of humans does not know history. I can recall being on Fox News Channel in 1999 to rebut somebody from the Audubon Society who was opposed to spraying to kill the mosquito population in and around New York City. Ironically, West Nile Fever kills birds by the thousands. That year there were 62 human cases and West Nile killed seven people. Within a year, the crow population was decimated.
Conditions in New York City in 1999 and today were quite different from the cities of medieval Europe where the Black Plague thrived. People did not bathe. Rats were everywhere. Rivers were used as sewers. Human offal was tossed into the streets. There was no sanitation. At best, life expectancy was in the thirties. An estimated 25 million died from the Black Plague.
There is a reason we are not overwhelmed by a population of rats. A legion of people, descendents of medieval rat catchers, work to protect human life and billions in property. They are the members of the modern pest management industry. It used to be called the pest control industry until the incessant anti-pesticide propaganda of the environmentalists convinced them to change the name. There was a not-to-distant time when they proudly called themselves “exterminators.”
It forced a change in the way pest control was practiced. Now “Integrated Pest Management” is the style of the times with a heavy emphasis on inspections and recommendations of ways to interdict insect and rodent pests before they gain access to a home or any other structure. Under Integrated Pest Management, pesticide application is the last measure used when all others fail.
Pesticides, all of which undergo an Environmental Protection Agency registration process that can cost up to $50 million dollars for a single new product, has seen the loss of many excellent products withdrawn from the marketplace despite years of successful and effective use against a wide range of insect or rodent pests. There is little incentive to introduce new ones. Too many people remained convinced the pesticides will kill them, not the pests.
Are we safer now? I don’t know, but I am inclined to think we’re not.
We can pardon the ignorant masses of Europe and Asia who did not know how disease was spread for being party to their own decimation. When the Black Death subsided in about four years, having spread throughout Europe to England, it was followed by another in 1361 that was known as the “Children’s Plague” taking the lives of those born after the first plague. Other plagues would follow, but they would not have the profound affect on history as the Black Death.
The philosopher, George Santayana, warned that those who are ignorant of the past are condemned to repeat it. It is folly to think that some new plague could not occur. Meanwhile we worry that Islamic radicals will use “bio-warfare”, but it is Nature about whom we must worry most. Nature with its rats, mice, fleas, ticks and mosquitoes.
It is not for nothing that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are War, Famine, Disease and Death.
About the Writer: Alan Caruba writes "Warning Signs," a weekly commentary posted on http://www.anxietycenter.com, the website of The National Anxiety Center.
http://junkscience.com/ddtfaq.htm
"In May 1955 the Eighth World Health Assembly adopted a Global Malaria Eradication Campaign based on the widespread use of DDT against mosquitos and of antimalarial drugs to treat malaria and to eliminate the parasite in humans. As a result of the Campaign, malaria was eradicated by 1967 from all developed countries where the disease was endemic and large areas of tropical Asia and Latin America were freed from the risk of infection. The Malaria Eradication Campaign was only launched in three countries of tropical Africa since it was not considered feasible in the others. Despite these achievements, improvements in the malaria situation could not be maintained indefinitely by time-limited, highly prescriptive and centralized programmes."
[Bull World Health Organ 1998;76(1):11-6]
"To only a few chemicals does man owe as great a debt as to DDT... In little more than two decades, DDT has prevented 500 million human deaths, due to malaria, that otherwise would have been inevitable."
[National Academy of Sciences, Committee on Research in the Life Sciences of the Committee on Science and Public Policy. 1970. The Life Sciences; Recent Progress and Application to Human Affairs; The World of Biological Research; Requirements for the Future.]
It is believed that [malaria] afflicts between 300 and 500 million every year, causing up to 2.7 million deaths, mainly among children under five years.
[Africa News, January 27, 1999]
Well, yes, but mostly crows. I have to admit that I changed my mind about West Nile. Years ago, I used to have song birds of all sorts near my house. Then the crows moved in, and that was the end of the song birds.
Then West Nile came, and the crows are gone (all of them!), and the song birds are back.
If this isn't a case of "silver lining", I don't know what is.
"someone needs to call the Mosquito Control office"
Eradication of mosquito infested areas is actually quite simple.
1 - remove all sources of standing water such as old tires and pails etc, any place mosquitoes can breed.
2 - stock larger bodies of water with small mosquito larva eating fish,
3 - regular application of a light volatile oil to water surfaces (totally no toxic assuming you use a not toxic oil that evaporates) the oil forms a thin skin on the water surfaces and smothers the mosquito larva who have to stick their proboscis through the water surface to breath.
The Mosquito Control Office already knows this but rightly assumes you are too lazy to get off your butt to do it yourself. Do something rather than expecting the government to come in a fumigate for you.
Public education is the best defense.
I know how to cut down on mosquitoes in my yard. I already put vegetable oil in my bird bath but there are mosquitoes here that will hatch in the amount of water that is held in a fallen leaf. That is tough to combat but I was thinking about the salt marshes around Galveston Bay. That is a bit more than I can handle.
"That is tough to combat but I was thinking about the salt marshes around Galveston Bay"
Ya, that is a lot of oil :) Luckily you don't have to deal with Malaria.
I lived for a while on the coast of Nicaragua (AKA Mosquito Coast) Aedes aegypti is the carrier there and is a truly nasty little bugger. You will never get rid of all the mosquitoes, nor would you want to because in the process you would eradicate countless other insects that are beneficial, like honey bees for example. The thing about these diseases is that they are carried from one person to another and if you can limit the transmission in population centers the diseases burn out in those small regions. You will still get a case here and there, but not the major outbreaks.
Costa Rica is a good example, Although Malaria is endemic to the region, you rarely get many cases, while just over the border in Nicaragua it is still much more common. They (Costa Rica) have a very proactive education program where people go door to door during the rainy season and help you identify what you can do to reduce the breeding potential in your yard. You do this on the scale of towns and you see real result quickly. They still have a problem with dengue (think malaria "light") but it is rarely fatal unless you get the hemoragic type, but that is quite uncommon.
But back to the whole point of the post, trying to pin malaria to environmentalists, is a bad idea because it is so patently and provably absurd. There are so many pesticides available to kill mosquitoes that to try to claim the loss of DEET through some "EVIL" liberal plot just makes us all look like morons.
Sorry, that should read DDT, not DEET.
I don't know if we have ever had Malaria here but yellow fever was a killer in Galveston and New Orleans in the past. I don't know what would have to happen to bring it back.
I can do that, and so can all my neighbors. But what about the government built "replacement wetlands" that are springing up all around our area? Or the local government mandate that stormwater detention ponds hold water for a couple weeks rather than a couple of hours (like the old stormwater retention areas)?
Seems to me that the government ("we're here to help") on the one hand is telling us to change our lifestyle to avoid mosquito borne illness, but on the other hand is doing everything it can to increase mosquito habitat...
Run it by me again - just how is today's NYC different?
"I don't know if we have ever had Malaria here"
Actually, yes there was malaria in the southern U.S. Just to point out an "environmentalist" link, I believe John Muir contracted it, don't recall where exactly (Florida ?). If anything, that is a perfect example of how malaria can be eliminated from an area without the use of DDT. We have not used DDT here for years, but we have a very aggressive abatement program.
Simply not true, worker.
DDT was "banned" by the Nixon administration based on totally flawed --- and there is no better word for it --- Junk Science. The irony is the Nixon people, specifically William Ruckelhouse (sp?), Nixon's EPA director, knew damn well it was bad science, knew damn well it would cause malaria rates to skyrocket in the 3rd world, knew damn well that millions would die from malaria as a result, but made the move and pressured the UN to follow through, because they saw it as good domestic politics. He simply ignored the solid evidence that his own scientists gave him.
If you want to read a sored tale of how politicized science kills people, read THIS.
Executive Order: Amendment to E.O. 13295 Relating to Certain Influenza Viruses and Quarantinable Communicable Diseases
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264(b)), it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Based upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Surgeon General, and for the purpose set forth in section 1 of Executive Order 13295 of April 4, 2003, section 1 of such order is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:
"(c) Influenza caused by novel or reemergent influenza viruses that are causing, or have the potential to cause, a pandemic.".
Sec. 2. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees or agents, or any other person.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 1, 2005.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/04/20050401-6.html
EXECUTIVE ORDER 13295: REVISED LIST OF QUARANTINABLE COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
April 4, 2003
EXECUTIVE ORDER
------
REVISED LIST OF QUARANTINABLE COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264(b)), it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Based upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the "Secretary"), in consultation with the Surgeon General, and for the purpose of specifying certain communicable diseases for regulations providing for the apprehension, detention, or conditional release of individuals to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of suspected communicable diseases, the following communicable diseases are hereby specified pursuant to section 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act:
(a) Cholera; Diphtheria; infectious Tuberculosis; Plague; Smallpox; Yellow Fever; and Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (Lassa, Marburg, Ebola, Crimean-Congo, South American, and others not yet isolated or named).
(b) Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which is a disease associated with fever and signs and symptoms of pneumonia or other respiratory illness, is transmitted from person to person predominantly by the aerosolized or droplet route, and, if spread in the population, would have severe public health consequences.
Sec. 2. The Secretary, in the Secretary's discretion, shall determine whether a particular condition constitutes a communicable disease of the type specified in section 1 of this order.
Sec. 3. The functions of the President under sections 362 and 364(a) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 265 and 267(a)) are assigned to the Secretary.
Sec. 4. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit enforceable at law or equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees or agents, or any other person.
Sec. 5. Executive Order 12452 of December 22, 1983, is hereby revoked.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 4, 2003.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/executiveorder040403.htm
Excuse me, but what is a "non-toxic" volatile oil? Is it petroleum based?
After Rachel Carson's idiot book, "Silent Spring" caused such a stir with the then non politicized scientific community disputing her claims, champions of her fictions tired to document her baseless charge that DDT caused thinning of egg shells. They failed miserably in that effort, and also failed to show any environmental or adverse health effects from DDT, even at dose levels many times greater than those actually discovered in normal use.
But they did discover that oil does in fact thin egg shells.
Yes, there are. But they are prohibitivly expensive for wide-spread application in most 3rd world nations.
"... what is a "non-toxic" volatile oil? Is it petroleum based?"
Some are vegetable based, others are petroleum based. Petroleum is not inherently toxic, it depends how it was processed.
"But they are prohibitively expensive for wide-spread application in most 3rd world nations."
I'm not sure what third world nations you've been going to but there is no shortage of pesticides.
Many can and are produced locally. One of the many hats I have worn over the years was as the owner of a wholesale nursery. The insect control for the entire nursery was managed with a combination of Pyrethrins (extracted from a flower Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium) a bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis to kill the larva that fed on the penstemons, garlic to control mold on the salvias and soap to kill just about everything else.
The soap works very much like the oil, it mechanically smothers then.
You can develop a tolerance to alcohol, it's much more difficult to develop a tolerance to a plastic bag over your head.
Pyrethrins and pyrethroids interfere with the normal way that the nerves and brain function. Exposure to very high levels of these compounds for a short period in air, food, or water may cause dizziness, headache, nausea, muscle twitching, reduced energy, changes in awareness, convulsions and loss of consciousness. Changes in mental state may last several days after exposure to high levels of pyrethroids has ended. There is no evidence that pyrethrins or pyrethroids affect the ability of humans to produce children, but some animal studies have shown reduced fertility in males and females.
DDT on the other hand was never shown to have adverse health effects, even in exposure many times a maximum credible dose.
You will also note that pyrethrins have an effective period of about 2 days, requiring frequent treatment. DDT is effective in low concentrations indoors for a month or more, which makes it so effective in controlling malaria outbreaks in remote tropical regions where mosquitoes are most active after dark.
Which makes them prohibitively expensive when trying to prevent malaria in remote villages in tropical regions. It is not being used for agriculture today. It is only used, "indoors" for malaria control, and it works.
See http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/000000005591.htm or
this. http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/000000005591.htm
While we insist that 3rd world nations impose our paranoid environmental policies that speculate hypothetical health problems out to six decimal places, in the rest of the world, malaria kills two children every MINUTE!
Then again, the the average Washington environmental lobbyist firm has greater revenues than these nations have health budgets.
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