More:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,128165,00.html
Millions in the third world die from malaria every year in large part because of a virtual ban on the controversial insecticide DDT.
The removal of the unwarranted stigma from DDT and the saving of many future lives is now nearer at hand than it has been in the last 30 years thanks to the efforts of Dr. J. Gordon Edwards, who passed away on July 19 at the age of 85.
Though Dr. Edwards is best known to the general public as the author of the now-classic 1961 book “A Climber’s Guide to Glacier National Park,” his work as an entomologist and professor at San Jose State University may prove to be his most important legacy.
Dr. Edwards led the opposition to environmental extremist efforts to ban DDT in the wake of Rachel Carson’s infamous 1962 book “Silent Spring.” The testimony of Dr. Edwards and others during Environmental Protection Agency hearings in 1971 on whether to ban the insecticide led to an EPA administrative law judge ruling that, “DDT is not a carcinogenic hazard to man. DDT is not a mutagenic or teratogenic hazard to man. The uses of DDT under the regulations involved here do not have a deleterious effect on freshwater fish, estuarine organisms, wild birds or other wildlife.”
And:
http://www.blogofdeath.com/archives/001101.html
July 26, 2004
J. Gordon Edwards
J. Gordon Edwards was a mountain climber, an author, a park ranger and an educator, but he also held an unofficial title: the patron saint of climbing at Glacier National Park.
The San Jose, Calif., resident served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Although Edwards was trained as a mountaineer in preparation for an invasion of Italy, he actually spent two years toiling as a combat medic in the European theatre.
From 1949 to 1956, Edwards worked as a ranger and naturalist at Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana. For the next four decades, he taught biology and entomology at San Jose State University. His expertise and extensive collection of insects were acknowledged with a museum named in his honor.
As a skilled hiker and climber, Edwards literally blazed trails to more than 70 peaks. His 1961 book, “A Climber’s Guide to Glacier National Park,” has become a favorite text of area climbers. He also released the guide’s copyright to the Glacier Natural History Association, and donated all royalties from its many reprints to the nonprofit organization. A founding member of the Glacier Mountaineering Society and a member of the prestigious Explorers’ Club in New York, Edwards’ final years were spent leading tourists on climbs and sharing his knowledge of the park.
Edwards died on July 19 of a heart attack while hiking up Divide Mountain with his wife, Alice. He was 84.