W.H.O. Supports Wider Use of DDT vs. Malaria (NYTimes)

[Up2Late]

(This must be the work of the Bush Cabal, NPR (who actually had this story first) said that this "...is part of pResident Bush's Malaria initiative...", so prepare for another attack from the anti-Science "activists." BTW, the NPR report is way to generous to the Pro-DDT side of the argument, they (NPR) need some e-mail.)

W.H.O. Supports Wider Use of DDT vs. Malaria

By CELIA W. DUGGER
Published: September 16, 2006

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 — The World Health Organization on Friday forcefully endorsed wider use of the insecticide DDT across Africa to exterminate and repel the mosquitoes that cause malaria. The disease kills more than a million people a year, 800,000 of them young children in Africa.

Dr. Arata Kochi, who leads the group’s global malaria program, unequivocally declared at a news conference on Friday that DDT was the most effective insecticide against malaria and that it posed no health risk when sprayed in small amounts on the inner walls of people’s homes. Expanding its use is essential to reviving the flagging international campaign to control the disease, he said.

Dr. Kochi has powerful allies on DDT and, more broadly, on using insecticide sprays, in Congress and the Bush administration — an odd bedfellows coalition for an agency of the United Nations, which has often been at odds with the White House.

At the news conference, Adm. R. Timothy Ziemer, who leads President Bush’s $1.2 billion malaria undertaking, stood at Dr. Kochi’s side and described spraying with insecticides as a tool “that must be deployed as robustly and strategically as possible.”

(more at link) <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/16/world/africa/16malaria.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>

Edit to add the NPR link: <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6083944>

[More Than A Feeling]

1. Did we not conclude 43 years ago that DDT doesn't work?

All it does is create resistant strains of mosquito, disrupt ecosystems by killing creatures that have nothing to do with malaria, and poison people. Was that not the whole point of Silent Spring?

Methinks Bush ought to put down "My Pet Goat", and pick up "Silent Spring". He might learn something.

[mike_c]

2. no, not at all-- we learned that we'd used it very unwisely....

This is actually a much better match for DDT-- indoors it's highly persistent, but also highly contained. It makes the walls, where female mosquitos rest, toxic to insects, but DDT has virtually no vertebrate toxicity at insecticidal doses. Indoor applications don't bioaccumulate up food chains.

Malairia kills over a million people every year. Vector control is the most effective way to diminish that toll.

DDT is an excellent insecticide for this application, as long as the vector population isn't resistent from prior misuse.

[Up2Late]

4. I agree with all of that, even the Carter Center says the same thing, BUT

...but, when the W.H.O. (the group that was mostly responsible for it's past mis-use) is supported by the Bush Cabal, then you do have genuine cause to worry that it will become a problem again.

[Up2Late]

3. You should Google "DDT" and check out the link at the bottom...

...of the first page (I don't want to add to their "linked to" count, which would move them up the page, but it's the one that links to 21stcenturysciencetech dot com), It's absolutely infuriating. They deny all of that, including that the Bald Eagle almost went extinct because of DDT.

Here's another great "DDT causes unexpected consequences" story: <http://www.cdra.org.za/creativity/Parachuting%20cats%20into%20Borneo.htm>

Parachuting cats into Borneo! A Cautionary Tale.

In the early 1950’s, the Dayak people of Borneo suffered a malarial outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) had a solution: to spray large amounts of DDT to kill the mosquitoes that carried the malaria. The mosquitoes died; the malaria declined; so far so good. But there were unexpected side effects. Amongst the first was that the roofs of the people’s houses began to fall down on their heads. It seemed that the DDT had also killed a parasitic wasp which had previously controlled thatch-eating caterpillars. Worse, the DDT-poisoned insects were eaten by geckoes, which were eaten by cats. The cats started to die, the rats flourished, and the people were threatened by outbreaks of typhus and plague. To cope with these problems, which it had itself created, the WHO was obliged to parachute 14 000 live cats into Borneo. Operation Cat Drop, now almost forgotten at the WHO, is a graphic illustration of the interconnectedness of life, and of the fact that the root of problems often stems from their purported solutions.

(Quoted in Rachel Wynberg and Christine Jardine, Biotechnology and Biodiversity: Key Policy Issues for South Africa, 2000)

and here: <http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid157.php>

[mike_c]

5. the key is not to use aerial sprays-- that's NOT what is being...

...suggested. The worst thing about DDT is overuse and broadcast application. If properly applied, it's one of the best choices for vector control at the point of malaria transmissions. Female mosquitos rest on the inside walls of homes at night after they've fed. That is the best time to kill them without doing broader environmental damage, and DDT is perfect for that. It cannot bioaccumulate up food chains when used this way.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

16. No

Silent Spring was not about the use of DDT to prevent malaria.

[WhiteTara]

6. Oh NO! There are so much better ways

than poison. Here in our area, a small fish is introduced that eat the mosquito larva and mulitply like crazy. DDT is the lazy man's way that only destroys wildlife. :grr:

[Robbien]

7. But scientists and environmentalists are not invited to the discussion

The chemical manufacturing industry has had a seat at the table, therefore DDT is the suggested solution.

We have a huge military industry who is invited to the discussion of conflict resolution, therefore war is the suggested solution.

Different players, same game.

[WhiteTara]

14. ah the logic of it all, eh? n/t

[Occulus]

8. M'kay then,

and if your mosquito problem is also due to standing/stagnant water, you....?

[WhiteTara]

13. one of the easiest ways is to empty the water

but the litle mosquito fish live in standing water also and eat the eggs.? Little oil on top of the water works too. But not DDT

[Pharaoh]

9. WHO recommends indoor use of DDT insecticides

I can't believe my eyes!

Are these people insane?



New York, Sept. 16 (PTI): The World Health Organisation has strongly recommended indoor use of DDT insecticide, maligned for over 30 years, for killing mosquitoes that spread malaria, which has caused deaths of one million people, mostly children in Africa alone.

Using DDT within a room or hut works like a mosquito net but is more effective over long periods and kills the disease carrying mosquitoes while people are asleep.





http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200609161421.htm

[acmejack]

10. Sometimes it is the lesser of two evils.

We used gallons of the stuff in the fifties and sixties in Asia. Most of my family has no apparent ill effects.

[bleedingheart]

11. I am not suprised, DDT was useful, but it was misused

in the battle against mosquito borne diseases it was very useful, and over three years ago I was reading articles that stated that WHO and others were looking to bring it back...even given the risks.

[Igel]

12. About time.

The relevant studies were done in the '90s. Peer reviewed. With controls.

DDT was cost-effective, safe, and worked really, really well.

[stepnw1f]

15. DDT is Safe?!

You have a link?