But Her Heart Was Good (How many has Rachel Carson killed?)

Forbes.com ^ | 5/21/07 | Rich Karlgaard

[gridlock]

Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring--the book that got mosquito-killer DDT banned and launched the modern environmental movement--while struggling with cancer. The disease killed Carson in 1964, two years after Silent Spring came out.

Today's Washington Post has a story on Carson--whose 100th birth anniversary occurs later this month--and her noble fight against cancer. A touching piece.

But maddening, too! Because in the story's 34 paragraphs, there are only a buried pair, the 26th and 27th, that note the ongoing controversy about DDT's ban.

A Maryland Congressman (evil Republican, of course ... wink, wink) is quoted as saying that malaria deaths might have been prevented had DDT not been banned.

That happens to be true. DDT kills mosquitoes, which carry malaria, which was all but eradicated before DDT was banned.

Buried in paragraph 27, and paraphrasing the Congressman, The Washington Post concedes that "numerous" deaths might have been prevented by DDT.

Let's stop here. Any curious reader would ask, Just how "numerous" is numerous? Wouldn't you ask that question? The Post never asks that question. Why?

Because the answer devastates Rachel Carson and her followers. According to these CDC figures, malaria kills more than 800,000 children under age five every year.

Every year, 800,000 small children die from malaria, a disease once nearly eradicated. Ponder that.

And all The Washington Post can say is "numerous?"

That's scandalous.

What do you think? Post your comments below.

[gridlock]

Rachael Carson is responsible for an almost equal number of deaths as Communism..

Your obvious error is to assume that Environmentalism and Communism are not one and the same.

[relictele]

The Pittsburgh newspapers (mainstream and alternative) regularly polish Carson’s saintly image and consider her one of the city’s greatest products.

[Hiddigeigei]

Hate to rain on anybody’s parade, but the screen door and screened windows was effectively controlling Malaria in the southern US before DDT came along. Doesn’t mean I’m against the judicious use of DDT in Africa or elsewhere.

[VOA]

bump

[gridlock]

Hate to rain on anybody’s parade, but the screen door and screened windows was effectively controlling Malaria in the southern US before DDT came along.

If your house has no walls, where do you put the screen?

[TASMANIANRED]

Eliminating DDT didn’t save the birds either.

New influx of mosquito's carrying west nile and ravaging the bird population, especially raptors.

[BuffaloJack]

DDT is our friend.
DDT for insect control, hexachlorophene for antibacterial/antifungal soaps that almost got rid of ringworm infections. They’re even trying to get rid of childhood immunizations. The greenies and the lawyers have gotten rid of everything that made us healthier as a species.

[gridlock]

Rachel Carson is considered, by many, to be a secular saint.

Sad, but true.

[CertainInalienableRights]

For example the penalty for murdering a spouse with the intention of collecting insurance is different from the penalty given for say rage killing--eg finding out that the spouse has been unfaithful

At least in your example, there is reason to treat the two crimes differently. In the former, there is a certain cold calculation - one has to decide that the value of the taken life is less than the monetary gain to the perp. Then, one has to plan such a deed (presumably trying not to be caught). One assumes that the killer is fully aware of the consequences of their actions and yet decides to carry them out anyhow, and purely for financial gain.

In a rage killing, you could have an isolated case of a person so overwhelmed with emotion, that they react without thinking, possibly not intending to kill, but using excessive force being blinded by anger. There's no intent or forethought involved, and probably not much consideration of the consequences. Plus, a jury can understand being so angered that a person could lash out - the jury may even sympathize with the killer, where its difficult to find sympathy in one who plans a murder for financial gain.

Just my thoughts...

[ishabibble]

>>...omnipotent moral busybodies.<<

How I wish that Mister Lewis could be here today to witness the “good conscience” of:

Hillarycare
Michael Moore
Al Gore
Atheist Dawkins
PETA
ELF
NEA GLESN
The Democratic Party

The Loonie Lethal Lefties...All Chiefs, No Indians!

[bmwcyle]

I hope she meets all of those souls one at a time.

[TASMANIANRED]

I was simply remarking on Rachael Carson...Environmental Communism came after wards.

[gridlock]

The greenies and the lawyers have gotten rid of everything that made us healthier as a species.

To what end?

I gotta say, I read Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six back when it was published, and thought it was just silly. Now I see that Clancy may have just been a few years ahead of the curve.

[tang-soo]

They would never say so openly, but the population controllers and the greenies probably think this is a good thing. Fewer third worlders to screw up the environment and increase global warming.

"It's terrible to have to say this. World population must be stabilized and to do that we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. This is so horrible to contemplate that we shouldn't even say it. But the general situation in which we are involved is lamentable." -- Jacques Cousteau, November 1991

[gridlock]

I hope she meets all of those souls one at a time.

I am going to be charitable and assume that Carson did not intend to kill all those children. The problem is, she did not stop to think things through. Nobody did.

[HoosierHawk]

[Cicero]

Good one. I think I missed that.

[gridlock]

Who gets to pick today’s 350,000?

[gridlock]

Who gets to pick today’s 350,000?

Cause, let's face it, Des Moines, Iowa is just annoying...

[Balding_Eagle]

Liberals have been wrong on EVERY major issue for the last 50 years.

This is just one more issue they are wrong about.