On Tue, 11 May 2004 13:37:09 -0700 (PDT), Deborah Harrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Gautam Mukunda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Deborah Harrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I > > think I'm being fair in paraphrasing her concluding > > thought by saying that she suggests that in the > > conclusion to my last message I was lumping together > > extremists and the mainstream environmental movement > > in talking about the banning of DDT. > > > > My rebuttal to that argument is simple - no one uses > > DDT anymore. Basically no one in the world. If > > it's only the extremsists, how come they won so > > completely? > > Question: how does the US ban of DDT prevent any other > country from making it? > > > Everyone knew - without any doubt whatsoever, > > _everyone knew_ - that banning DDT would cause a > > massive spike in malaria worldwide. It was > > nonetheless banned, and malaria did spike. 90+% of > > the people in the world who have died of malaria > > since > > DDT was banned _died because DDT was banned_. <snip> > > Do you have a site handy for that figure? (If not, > I'll try to find it at some point.) > > Debbi
I had posted this before: DDT was not banned. http://www.malaria.org/inthenews.html There was a proposal to ban it entirely in December, it failed becuase of the poor countries who still use it for malaria control. Why use DDT? It can be highly effective for several years in killing mosquitos. (Eventually mosquitos more immune to DDT predominate.) Alternatives are about 50% more expensive. Why not use DDT? The World Wildlife Fund and Physicians for Social Responsibility, among many others, indict DDT chillingly: as a carcinogen, a teratogen, an immunosupressant, that stays in biological systems and concentrates as it moves up the food chain. It was responsible for almost wiping out some species of birds in the United States and measurable quantities were being detected in mother's milk. The treaty on banning persistent organic pollutants such as DDT decided to make an exception for malaria control. However, some people, ahem, have decided to make this an issue to bash environmentalists. For a paper from both sides before the treaty vote see here: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/321/7273/1403 #1 on google for liberal news
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