Environmentalism and malaria vs man

Millions die every year of malaria because of the irrational DDT ban: Thirty years ago, on June l4, l972, the Environmental Protection Agency's first administrator, William Ruckelshaus, rebuffed the advice of his scientific advisors and announced a ban on virtually all domestic uses of the pesticide DDT. This was done despite the fact that DDT had earlier been hailed as a "miracle" chemical that repelled and killed mosquitoes that carry malaria, a disease that can be fatal to humans. ... There are some 300 to 500 million reported cases of malaria each year, 90% occurring in Africa. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about two and a half million people die of the disease each year, again, mostly in Africa, the majority of them poor children... (with about one child being lost to malaria every thirty seconds). Many medical historians believe malaria has killed more people than any other disease in history, including the Black Plague, and may have contributed to the collapse of the Roman Empire. Malaria was common in places as far north as Boston and England until the twentieth century. Two thirds of the world lived in malaria-ridden areas prior to the 1940s. [American Council on Science and Health (ACSH)]

How could we possibly get to wholesale manslaughter in the name of a fake environmentalist scare? The modern environmentalist movement was launched at the beginning of June 1962, when excerpts from what would become Rachel Carson's anti-chemical landmark Silent Spring were published in The New Yorker. Without this book, the environmental movement might have been long delayed or never have developed at all, declared then-Vice President Albert Gore in his introduction to the 1994 edition. The foreword to the 25th anniversary edition accurately declared, It led to environmental legislation at every level of government. ... Carson was moved to write Silent Spring by her increasing concern about the effects of pesticides on wildlife. Her chief villain was the pesticide DDT. ... The World Health Organization credits DDT with saving 50 million to 100 million lives by preventing malaria. In 1943 Venezuela had 8,171,115 cases of malaria; by 1958, after the use of DDT, the number was down to 800. India, which had over 10 million cases of malaria in 1935, had 285,962 in 1969. In Italy the number of malaria cases dropped from 411,602 in 1945 to only 37 in 1968. [Reason]

Although Carson's claims have been thoroughly debunked by scientists in the past four decades, her malevolent influence lingers on and the DDT ban she inspired is directly responsible for the deaths of 100 million people since 1962. It is primarily children and pregnant women in developing countries who are being killed.

The Malaria Toll: Betwen January 1999 and June 2002, more than one billion people have been afflicted by malaria. Of these, nearly 10 million have died. That's one needless premature death every 10.5 seconds.

Facts vs Fear: DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) was first synthesized in 1877, but it was not until 1940 that a Swiss chemist discovered that it could be sprayed on walls and would cause any insect to die within the next six months, without any apparent toxicity to humans. DDT's effectiveness, persistence, and low cost (only 17 cents per pound) resulted in its being used in antimalarial efforts worldwide. It was introduced into widespread use during World War II and became the single most important pesticide responsible for maintaining human health through the next two decades. The scientist who discovered the insecticidal properties of DDT, Dr. Paul Müller, was awarded the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. [ACSH via Economically Viable Alternative Green]

It must become clear to all reasonably informed people that environmentalism is the most toxic ideology in man's history. [Reisman via Capitalism.ch]

© Copyright 2003 Kalle Barfot. Last update: 2003-02-11; 00:03:10. This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.