The Black Death and Its Descendents - (dangers & costs of environmental extremism)

CHRONWATCH.COM ^ | APRIL 10, 2005 | ALAN CARUBA

[CHARLITE]

Very informative site:

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]

[speekinout]

. Ironically, West Nile Fever kills birds by the thousands.

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.

[Ditter]

So you are saying if we spray the Gulf Coastal areas with vegetable oil we will get rid of the mosquitoes? someone needs to call the Mosquito Control office and tell them that. Why don't you do it?

[ndt]

"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.

[Ditter]

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.

[ndt]

"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.

[ndt]

Sorry, that should read DDT, not DEET.

[Ditter]

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.

[Kay Ludlow]

1 - remove all sources of standing water such as old tires and pails etc, any place mosquitoes can breed.

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...

[John Locke]

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.

Run it by me again - just how is today's NYC different?

[ndt]

"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.

[Ditto]

DDT killed far more than mosquitoes ever will.

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.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

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

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

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

[Ditto]

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.

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.

[Ditto]

There are so many pesticides available to kill mosquitoes...

Yes, there are. But they are prohibitivly expensive for wide-spread application in most 3rd world nations.

[ndt]

"... 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.

[Ditto]

From the CDC.

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.

[ndt]

"You will also note that pyrethrins have an effective period of about 2 days, requiring frequent treatment."

Exactly the point, they do their job then go away like well behaved little pesticides.

"DDT is effective in low concentrations indoors for a month or more"

And accumulates in living tissue and persists for up to 15 years.

And I'll match your cut and paste with my own.

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts35.html

DDT affects the nervous system. People who accidentally swallowed large amounts of DDT became excitable and had tremors and seizures. These effects went away after the exposure stopped. No effects were seen in people who took small daily doses of DDT by capsule for 18 months.

A study in humans showed that women who had high amounts of a form of DDE in their breast milk were unable to breast feed their babies for as long as women who had little DDE in the breast milk. Another study in humans showed that women who had high amounts of DDE in breast milk had an increased chance of having premature babies.

In animals, short-term exposure to large amounts of DDT in food affected the nervous system, while long-term exposure to smaller amounts affected the liver. Also in animals, short-term oral exposure to small amounts of DDT or its breakdown products may also have harmful effects on reproduction.

Studies in DDT-exposed workers did not show increases in cancer. Studies in animals given DDT with the food have shown that DDT can cause liver cancer.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) determined that DDT may reasonable be anticipated to be a human carcinogen. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) determined that DDT may possibly cause cancer in humans. The EPA determined that DDT, DDE, and DDD are probable human carcinogens.

Studies in rats have shown that DDT and DDE can mimic the action of natural hormones and in this way affect the development of the reproductive and nervous systems. Puberty was delayed in male rats given high amounts of DDE as juveniles. This could possibly happen in humans. A study in mice showed that exposure to DDT during the first weeks of life may cause neurobehavioral problems later in life.

[Ditto]

Exactly the point, they do their job then go away like well behaved little pesticides.

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.