Posted on 08/14/2002 10:51:15 PM PDT by kattracks
Let's give William Ruckelshaus his due, as well. See the malaria/DDT links on my profile page.
Tomorrow I'll post Frank Notestein's 1944 demographics paper for the Milbank Memorial Fund. It's quite simple to depopulate an area: increase the death rate, decrease the birth rate, outmigrate people, or any combination thereof. It's truly amazing the outrageous propaganda that people are willing to believe [and hello! to lurking DUers]. I'll ping you both when I post it.
My premise is a simple one. My grand-daughter brought home lice from her day-care facility, which resulted in an intensive internet search of current treatments. Permethrin, the active ingredient in the most popular lice products, has been indicated in causing leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases.
So while there appears to be a direct link between the prohibition of DDT and mosquito spread-diseases, how can we determine how many lives were spared because the general population was not exposed to a chemical that could lead to other types of life-threatening diseases?
There's an excellent essay linked on my profile page to www.fightingmalaria.org.
When DDT gets in the rivers, bugs eat it. Up the chain it goes until some human goes fishing. If birds, cows, pigs, snakes, you name it, were getting sick from DDT, it doesn't take a genious to figure out that it's also a danger to humans.
Ok, now that being said, there is some limited benifit in its use. In Vietnam, 1967, peumonic plague hit the local village. After seven villagers died from it we sprayed our company area with DDT every day. You could taste it in the food, smell it in the air. You could feel it in your hair, in your cloths all the time. It was ever-present for nearly three weeks, but that was the end of the plague. I'd take my chances with DDT any day rather than take a chance with plague. But for most things I'd rather settle for a can of OFF.
I knew someone with O-Positive blood that never got bitten. Perhaps it's the taste...
"The second amendment isn't about duck hunting anymore than the first amendment is about playing Scrabble." --Henry Bowman
I meant to say "AB-Negative," not O-Pos. Sorry!
"The second amendment isn't about duck hunting anymore than the first amendment is about playing Scrabble." --Henry Bowman
Just about any chemical is safe if used properly.
My mind is off on a different tangent today. I'll just float this one quickly and be off and if anybody wants to expand on it feel free- the notion came into my mind as I read the article.
Carrier pigeons are extinct I believe, but are there other birds that are pretty much guaranteed to migrate to a narrowly specific geographic area? What I'm getting at is- would it be in any way possible to develop some dangerous bio agent or virus- Ebola for example- and then purposefully infect a bird (or several), tag that bird with some sort of tracking device and then have an "agent" pick it up when it reached Europe from Africa or N America from S America? What about attaching a small phial of the virus to the bird's leg and tagging it the same way? Is there any species of bird or animal such kooky idea would work with?
If it did work, it would be a brilliant way to bypass security at airports, ports and national borders. What you would need is a Muslim ornithologist in the receiving country and a biotech guy to forward it to once it was secured from the avian transporter.
Hey, I'll put it in a story if nothing else...
copyright Prodigal Son 2002 --- just kidding??? Maybe/Maybe not.
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