[B. A. Conservative]

In addition to the needless human deaths from malaria as a result of the ban on DDT, there is considerable economic costs to the over burdened US economy as well. What is the annual cost of termite inspections, treatments, and costs to repair termite damage in the US? A house treated once with DDT for termites, is termite-proof for the next five thousand years. Those of you who live in the south are familiar with fire ants. What are the costs to wildlife because of the fire ant invasion. My quail hunting buddies don't hunt much anymore because they claim fire ants eat the baby quail before they are large enough to defend themselves. Anybody remember something called the "law of unintended consequences"?

[backhoe]

I have read- I think in the DDT links in that "Scams, Scalawags..." link- that 1 to 2 million people die every year worldwide from insect-bourne diseases and that these could be prevented by using insecticides now banned.

[Wonder Warthog]

"What are the costs to wildlife because of the fire ant invasion. My quail hunting buddies don't hunt much anymore because they claim fire ants eat the baby quail before they are large enough to defend themselves. Anybody remember something called the "law of unintended consequences"?"

They tried using DDT to stop the fire ants. It didn't work. I was in grade school in Louisiana in the Fifties and can remember the airplanes flying over, dropping tons of DDT-laced corn meal in the campaign. THAT massive over-use was probably the reason for any ecological effects on bird-egg shells. However--I agree that DDT should NOT have been banned. There are places and uses where it is the correct solution to the problem (i.e. termites, malaria prevention, etc.). The evidence of any MAJOR ecological or human effects are lacking.