Posted on 05/21/2007 7:25:01 PM PDT by 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.
Crap. We used to run behind them in the fog of DDT...we thought that was great fun. Hey, that was back in the days as a kid, when there wasn’t nearly as many mosquitoes! It was FUN to go outside on a summer night!
Jeez! I was joking!
Never, never, never, leave off the < /sarc> tag...
ROTFLMAO!
I should post that famous picture from the Internet of the guy doing a technicolor yawn out of his nose...I just downloaded it, but...the thread would probably get pulled.
A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. - Ingrid Newkirk, President, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA)
As is, apparently, a mosquito...
Carson did not advocate a total ban. Ruckelshaus did.
Surely there is enough blame to go around.
Theyre even trying to get rid of childhood immunizations”
Immunizations per se are not the problem, but the mercury in them is a problem - causes autism in some children.
I think that is a very good idea.
It seems somehow related to the definition of insanity (that is, doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result.)
Does that mean she was a carpet muncher?
I don’t think that would have much to do with it. I don’t know and I don’t care.
Hey, me too. I laughed so hard that milk came out my nose, which was very odd because I was not drinking milk at the time...
“If your house has no walls, where do you put the screen?”
If you live out in the open, malaria is the last of your worries.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.