DDT to be used in Africa: It's about God damned time

Politics International Politics
1

Finally, people are looking at doing something about the shockingly high malaria rates in Africa. It was not always thus… Credit DDT and let’s have it back. It’s about time!

[quote]U.S. government officials are enthusiastically endorsing and funding the use of DDT in sub-Saharan Africa after years of resisting calls from scientists who said the insecticide would be the best weapon for fighting malaria, despite lingering objections by some environmentalists.
“We’re really pretty aggressive” about supporting DDT use against the mosquitoes that spread malaria, said Michael Miller, deputy assistant administrator of the Bureau of Global Health for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Added Richard Green, director of the Office of Health, Infectious Diseases and Nutrition in USAID’s global health bureau: “We think DDT is an excellent insecticide and that, in some circumstances, it has some advantages over some other insecticides that are available.”
The insecticide credited with eliminating malaria in the Western world years ago was outlawed in the United States in 1972 and is banned in most countries because of environmental concerns and unsubstantiated fears it can harm humans. [/quote]

washingtontimes.com/national … -3878r.htm

2

Unsubstantiated? Ah yes. Cast aspersions. CAST! I say.
And harm to humans is the only cause for concern? :s

Whatever. Long before AIDS came along, the disease burden of the average African farmer was horrendous. If this is really the best solution, do it. I suspect that there are other, better solutions in the woodwork, but that’s largely uninformed opinion, and I can’t be bothered to do the research right now.

Good for the poor sods who might otherwise be laid up for weeks or months. Hope the side-effects of treatment don’t turn out to be worse than the disease.

3

Dunno about harm to humans, but DDT use in Britain in the 60s caused a massive explosion in vermin populations that led to massive crop destruction when the eggshells of raptors became extremely thin as a result of DDT causing them to break in the nest and raptor numbers to drop massively – to the point of extinction for some species.

4

This was also the subject of Rachel Carson’s very poorly researched book: Silent Spring. It was never proved and to my understanding entirely disproved that DDT was to blame for thinner egg shells in various bird species. Other factors were eventually pointed to as the cause, not DDT but once again environmentalist hysteria won the day, especially among the usual mindless leftie brigades and despite their mouthings of concern, literally millions of Africans have died and suffered bringing intense physical discomfort and lost work opportunities and ability. This ban on DDT use especially in Africa really has had the most incredibly bad effect on Africa and Africans.

5

Ah ha! It was Rachel Carson! I was wondering where the aspersions would be cast. Very nice.
:unamused:

6

I’d like to see links to that Fred. Haven’t read Silent Spring but my grandad was a gamekeeper in the 60s and had no doubt about DDT – then again, it was also he who told be about the existence of Santa Claus, so what did he know?
He and his peers used to spray DDT precisely to get it into the raptor population – saved them from having to shoot or trap them.

7

This was also the subject of Rachel Carson’s very poorly researched book: Silent Spring. It was never proved and to my understanding entirely disproved that DDT was to blame for thinner egg shells in various bird species. Other factors were eventually pointed to as the cause, not DDT but once again environmentalist hysteria won the day, especially among the usual mindless leftie brigades and despite their mouthings of concern, literally millions of Africans have died and suffered bringing intense physical discomfort and lost work opportunities and ability. This ban on DDT use especially in Africa really has had the most incredibly bad effect on Africa and Africans.[/quote]

Fred, get the ban on DDT and its use lifted in the US and then i have no problems with it being used in Africa, otherwise why should Africa be used as human guinea pigs for a substance that your own country banned.

8

The wikipedia article has some useful information about this topic.

So wondering if they are now able to solve the difficulties they faced previously in this area.

Also, it seems that DDT is still being used in tropical areas, just not as massively, which certainly has benefits for the environment.

[quote=“wikipedia”]
As of 2006, DDT continues to be used in other (primarily tropical) countries where mosquito-borne malaria and typhus are serious health problems. Use of DDT in public health to control mosquitoes is primarily done inside buildings and through inclusion in household products and selective spraying; this greatly reduces environmental impact compared to the earlier widespread use of DDT in agriculture. It also reduces the risk of resistance to DDT.[2] This use only requires a small fraction of that previously used in agriculture; for the whole country of Guyana, covering an area of 215,000 km

9

Ratlung:

Many thanks for that information. Very sensible and to the point.

Also, check out…

[quote]WHO proposed and supports the continued use of DDT for disease vector control, under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).1 The reason for the Organization

10

But what if they DO manage to reduce malaria in Africa? Won’t it simply lead to more people, even faster desertification, more famine, more beri beri and other diseases realted to nutrition, etc.? More AIDS too, probably. Is malaria cheaper to treat than AIDS or more expensive?

11

Now, now. You are talking like a crazed leftie who cares more about the environment and some kind of obscure moth rather than people. Remember that if people live longer, healthier lives, they are less inclined to have more children, development advances and there is more money to spend on the environment. It is a win-win situation.

Be sure and tell your uncle about DDT. Tell him I said it was okay to use it. haha

12

More from the same site…

[quote]Many experiments on caged-birds demonstrate that DDT and its metabolites (DDD and DDE) do not cause serious egg shell thinning, even at levels many hundreds of times greater than wild birds would ever accumulate.

[Cecil, HC et al. 1971. Poultry Science 50: 656-659 (No effects of DDT or DDE, if adequate calcium is in diet); Chang, ES & ELR Stokstad. 1975. Poultry Science 54: 3-10 1975. (No effects of DDT on shells); Edwards, JG. 1971. Chem Eng News p. 6 & 59 (August 16, 1971) (Summary of egg shell- thinning and refutations presented revealing all data); Hazeltine, WE. 1974. Statement and affidavit, EPA Hearings on Tussock Moth Control, Portland Oregon, p. 9 (January 14, 1974); Jeffries, DJ. 1969. J Wildlife Management 32: 441-456 (Shells 7 percent thicker after two years on DDT diet); Robson, WA et al. 1976. Poultry Science 55:2222- 2227; Scott, ML et al. 1975. Poultry Science 54: 350-368 (Egg production, hatchability and shell quality depend on calcium, and are not effected by DDT and its metabolites); Spears, G & P. Waibel. 1972. Minn. Science 28(3):4-5; Tucker, RK & HA Haegele. 1970. Bull Environ Contam. Toxicol 5:191-194 (Neither egg weight nor shell thickness affected by 300 parts per million DDT in daily diet);Edwards, JG. 1973. Statement and affidavit, U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, 24 pages, October 24, 1973; Poult Sci 1979 Nov;58(6):1432-49 (“There was no correlation between concentrations of pesticides and egg shell thinning].”) ]
Experiments associating DDT with egg shell thinning involve doses much higher than would ever be encountered in the wild.

[J Toxicol Environ Health 1977 Nov;3(4):699-704 (50 ppm for 6 months); Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 1978;7(3):359-67 (“acute” doses); Acta Pharmacol Toxicol (Copenh) 1982 Feb;50(2):121-9 (40 mg/kg/day for 45 days); Fed Proc 1977 May;36(6):1888-93 ("In well-controlled experiments using white leghorn chickens and Japanese quail, dietary PCBs, DDT and related compounds produced no detrimental effects on eggshell quality. … no detrimental effects on eggshell quality, egg production or hatchability were found with … DDT up to 100 ppm)]
Laboratory egg shell thinning required massive doses of DDE far in excess of anything expected in nature, and massive laboratory doses produce much less thinning than is seen in many of the thin-shelled eggs collected in the wild.

[Hazeltine, WE. 1974. Statement and affidavit, EPA Hearings on Tussock Moth Control, Portland Oregon, p. 9 (January 14, 1974)]
Years of carefully controlled feeding experiments involving levels of DDT as high as present in most wild birds resulted in no tremors, mortality, thinning of egg shells nor reproductive interference.

[Scott, ML et al. 1975. Poultry Science 54: 350-368 (Egg production, hatch ability and shell quality depend on calcium, and are not effected by DDT and its metabolites)]
Egg shell thinning is not correlated with pesticide residues.

[Krantz WC. 1970 (No correlation between shell-thinning and pesticide residues in eggs) Pesticide Monitoring J 4(3): 136-141; Postupalsky, S. 1971. Canadian Wildlife Service manuscript, April 8, 1971 (No correlation between shell-thinning and DDE in eggs of bald eagles and cormorants); Anon. 1970. Oregon State University Health Sciences Conference, Annual report, p. 94. (Lowest DDT residues associated with thinnest shells in Cooper’s hawk, sharp-shinned hawk and goshawk); Claus G and K Bolander. 1977. Ecological Sanity, David McKay Co., N.Y., p. 461. (Feeding thyreprotein causes hens to lay lighter eggs, with heavier, thicker shells)]
Among brown pelican egg shells examined there was no correlation between DDT residue and shell thickness.

[Switzer, B. 1972. Consolidated EPA hearings, Transcript pp. 8212-8336; and Hazeltine, WE. 1972. Why pelican eggshells are thin. Nature 239: 410-412]
Egg shells of red-tailed hawks were reported to be six percent thicker during years of heavy DDT usage than just before DDT use began. Golden eagle egg shells were 5 percent thicker than those produced before DDT use.

[Hickey, JJ and DW Anderson. 1968. Science 162: 271-273]

To the extent egg shell thinning occurred, many other substances and conditions could have been responsible.[/quote]

13

Ratlung:

This particular passage may alleviate some of your concerns…

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My understanding re lifting the ban on using DDT in Africa is that it has been championed by the WHO and the UN, specifically UNICEF.

Take it up with the WHO and UNICEF if you don’t like DDT.

Or, just keep singing Joni Mitchell songs:

[quote=“Joni Mitchell in Big Yellow Taxi”]
Hey farmer farmer
put away that DDT now
give me spots on my apples
but leave me the birds and the bees, please
[/quote]

15

I am not suprised to hear that the EU doesn’t want the DDT to be used in Africa. After all, if development programs were successful in Africa some of these people might have to get jobs rather than drive Range Rovers and search for local girls.

An interesting article:

townhall.com/opinion/columns … 94350.html

[quote=“Roy Innis”]Every year, 400 million African parents and children are stricken by malaria. Many are unable to work, cultivate fields, attend school or care for their families, for weeks on end. Others are permanently brain damaged. Nearly 1 million die.

Every year, Africa Malaria Day (April 25) brings promises to control the disease. But the calls for action are mere bombast, as healthcare agencies emphasize

16

Thank you Chewycorns for more information on how the left perverts issues that have a direct impact on millions, nay hundreds of millions of lives. As with many other environmental cris de coeurs, they are often just hidden attempts to prevent economic development at all costs lest their simplistic view of a Edenic wilderness are ruined.

17

Dammit Fred, moths are people too!
But continue, please. I’m getting an education here.

18

My parents used to tell me stories about having DDT spayed on their heads as children as part of some school program. They were both from very poor, rural parts of northern saskatchewan. My mother lived in native reservations for much of her childhood.

I’m sure glad I don’t live in Africa.

19

While a ban on DDT was certainly unjustified, this right-wing screed that “leftists killed 50 million!” is pure unmitigated BS.

Because of the way DDT was being used, mosquito populations were rapidly developing resistance, just as they did to quinine and chloroquine.
Most importantly, DDT was being massively sprayed outdoors for agricultural uses. If DDT is used in a controlled manner in indoor spraying it will help to combat malaria and save lives, but, inevitably resistance will grow and it’s effectiveness will fade over time. Radical left-wing environmentalists who oppose the use of DDT in any circumstances are just as deluded as right-wing extremists who proclaim it as a panacea- both groups are more concerned with scoring political points than saving lives.

20

I note that in the wake of the tsunami, the usual right-wing crew were demanding a spraying program for Sri Lanka, in spite of the fact that the DDT program had been abandoned there not due to Rachel Carson or Greenpeace, but because the mosquitoes had already developed resistance.

IOTW, we know it doesn’t fucking well work, but we have our ideological axe to grind.