Posted on 09/18/2006 2:04:10 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The World Health Organization announced Friday that it will begin actively promoting use of the pesticide DDT to combat malaria in developing nations. After tens of millions of preventable malarial deaths in these poor countries, it's nice to see WHO finally come to its senses, says the Wall Street Journal.
The agency's malaria chief, Arata Kochi, told reporters that "one of the best tools we have against malaria is indoor residual spraying. Of the dozen or so insecticides WHO has approved as safe for house spraying, the most effective is DDT." He also said, "We must take a position based on the science and the data."
** Malaria is the number one killer of pregnant women and children in Africa and among the top killers in Asia and South America.
** It's long been known that DDT is the cheapest and most effective way to contain the disease, which is spread by infected mosquitoes.
** But United Nations health agencies and others have for decades resisted employing DDT under pressure from anti-pesticide environmentalists.
For decades, the science and empirical data about DDT's effectiveness have been distorted or suppressed. Nevertheless, there is no evidence that DDT use in the amounts necessary to ward off malarial mosquitoes is harmful to humans, wildlife or the environment.
One insecticide won't end malaria, and DDT's proponents don't claim it will. But by keeping more people alive and healthy, DDT can help create the conditions for the only lasting solution, which is economic growth and development, says the Journal.
Source: Editorial, "DDT's New Friend," Wall Street Journal, September 18, 2006.
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Ping.
:-)
No, no no! So what if it saves millions of lives a year if the pristine swamplands and yellow-breasted dodo-hawk are at risk of contamination!?
/sarcasm
No.no.no! So what if not using DDT has already killed millions.
yitbos
And this is supposed to make us feel better about the agenda of WHO???????? I don't think so.........
Are you against the safe use of DDT?
Am I missing your point?
I must be....
Somewhere another 'Rachel Carson' looms...be ready for this.
Isn't this going to offend the spokespersons of the environment, and create a huge setback to the campaign to decimate the numbers of those Africans who breed like rabbits?
Why, without the population control of widespread deaths, the numbers of human beings shall rise exponentially to unsustainable levels, and cause a total collapse of the environment.
I think we're on the same wavelength now..........I am completely in favor of the safe and proper use of DDT.
My point was that they have been wrong about it all these years, and so now that they are admitting it we should blindly go along with the rest of their agenda????? That's what I don't think so about.
Rachel Carson is responsible for more deaths than any single individual in the modern era.
I'm with you.
May the socialist "Greens" who fostered the anti-DDT agenda rot somewhere unpleasant (like a VERY warm climate, post-demise).
I mean, with all his efforts to improve the health of children in Africa, he should consider this a no-brainer, and be leading the charge for the eradication of malaria via DDT spraying all over Africa. I think I'll hold my breath waiting for him to do that . . . </sarcasm>
I get first dibs.
I live in a malaria area. Heck, I just got over malaria week before last. Hubby had it the week before me.
This is good news.
God Bless Dastardly Deadly Toxins! I still mourn the loss of Diazinon.
Think AIDS. Or tribal g'bments.
DDT works on skeeters, what about TSE-TSE flies?
yitbos
Absolutely!
This is where Occam's razor comes in.
No matter how foolish it looks to an outsider, everyone has a "valid" reason for doing what they do.
It makes sense to them, at the time.
Just figure out what is motivating them, and fix it.
If that doesn't work, go to plan 'B'.
:-)
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