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LETTER TO THE EDITOR NEW VISION BY ALFRED M. BAKWEGA -KAMPALA -28/11/2002
It’s Horrifying Health Wants To Use DDT! Horror Indeed!
SIR— It was with horror that I read health minister Jim Muhwezi’s remarks that Uganda would resort to DDT in the fight against malaria/mosquitoes. It appears that health ministry officials did not advise Brig Muhwezi about the devastating health effects of DDT.
DDT is a dangerous chemical that causes cancer and a host of other lethal diseases in man. DDT reaches man through the food chain which goes like this: We spray the mosquitoes which are on the grass/vegetation, the cattle, goats, chicken eat the DDT-covered grass and items, and we eat the DDT laced meat and drink DDT-laced milk. The rain falls and washes the DDT into the ground from which the crops and other plants draw DDT-laced water for growth, and we proceed to harvest DDT-laced crops. In the meantime the water underground seeps into the streams and the lakes, and we harvest DDT laced fish. In fact, DDT has been deemed so dangerous that it has been banned in all western countries on which we rely for trade, and nobody uses or eats anything that has a hint of DDT in it. So Mr Muhwezi, tell us, who will buy our milk, our beef, our coffee, or our AGOA clothes made out DDT-laced cotton, in these countries whose markets we are trying to penetrate? With DDT, you will be able to eliminate mosquitoes and hopefully malaria. But you create another catastrophe for the country. Do you remember the poisoned fish saga? I believe there are other chemicals and methods to eradicate mosquitoes that could be explored, such as sterile male mosquitoes, without resorting to DDT. I urge the health and trade ministries and NEMA to consult on the different options available; but to please, please, spare us DDT.
Alfred M. Bakwega
Kampala
Published on: Thursday, 28th November, 2002 |
