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DDT
DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) is a powerful halocarbon insecticide[1] with a controversial history. It is an extremely stable and decay-resistant chemical: the discoverer found that jars that had contained DDT and were subsequently autoclaved[2] still had enough DDT residue in them to kill insects. A little goes a long way.
DDT use was restricted and then banned in most Western countries in the 1960s and '70s, and in those countries where it remains legal, it is only used as a health measure to control the mosquitoes that spread malaria. Only China and India still manufacture it.
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[edit] DDT bans and mass murder
“”[DDT] should be used with caution, only when needed, and when no other effective, safe and affordable alternatives are locally available.
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| —Brenda Eskenazi, explaining the scientific consensus on DDT[3] |
Horrifically stupid wingnuts and experts for hire will sometimes imply that a supposed worldwide ban on DDT has killed millions of people by giving them malaria or some other mosquito-borne disease, and that Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring was responsible for the alleged ban. The myth seems to have originated from the Competitive Enterprise Institute and from libertarian Roger Bate (and is promoted by his organization Africa Fighting Malaria).
Carson devoted some of her book into weighing the pros and cons of DDT use,[4] but her findings did not lead to a global ban. There was (and still is) no global ban on DDT; only agricultural use is banned. Places with deadly mosquito-borne illnesses still use DDT, and in some places excessive use has led to the development of DDT-resistant mosquitoes.[5][6] In fact, the drastic reduction of DDT use in agriculture delayed the onset of resistance in mosquitoes.
Not only is DDT still approved by WHO for use against malaria (in indoor residual spraying,[wp] which is the spraying of walls of a home so a mosquito landing after it bites should get a fatal dose), but the Persistent Organic Pollutants Treaty (POPs) has a special clause for DDT.[7] Any nation may endorse the treaty calling for an end to DDT; but any nation may also use DDT at any time, for severe health reasons, by essentially writing a letter to WHO saying, "We have a health problem we think DDT may be useful to combat, so we're going to use DDT."[8]
[edit] More DDT deniers
- Roger Bate is the DDT denialist
- Sadly, Cracked.com's Adam Tod Brown[9]
- Brian Dunning's DDT Skeptoid episode
- Michael Fumento
- Jonah Goldberg[10]
- Steve Milloy
- Dennis Prager[11]
- Katie Pavlich
- Ben Shapiro
- Thomas Sowell
- John Stossel
[edit] External links
- DDT: An Introduction, Duke University
- DDT - A Brief History and Status, EPA
- DDT and Attacks on Rachel Carson, Cliffs Notes version, Bug Girl
- Deltoid's DDT category and DDT ban myth Bingo
- Ed Darrell's DDT category
- Bate and Switch: How a Free Market Magician Manipulated Two Decades of Environmental Science
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Though one Brazilian bee Eufriesea purpurata is known to collect DDT, probably in an attempt by the males to attract females. See: Revisiting the organohalogens associated with 1979-samples of Brazilian bees (Eufriesea purpurata) and The Bees of the World, Volume 1 by Charles Duncan Michener.
- ↑ Brought up to a very high pressure and temperature in a specially designed device (the autoclave) and left to react.
- ↑ Should DDT Be Used to Combat Malaria?, Scientific American
- ↑ The Unending War on Rachel Carson, ScienceBlogs
- ↑ The DDT story, Pesticide Action Network
- ↑ Rachel Carson Didn’t Kill Millions of Africans, Slate
- ↑ DDT Overview, Stockholm Convention
- ↑ Ed Darrell, in comments
- ↑ DDT is #1 in "The 5 Most Ridiculously Over-Hyped Health Scares of All Time" (2008), and mentioned in the "Bugs" entry of "4 Irrational Fears That Aren't as Irrational as They Seem" (2014)
- ↑ You pesky liberal fascists, trying to stop poison gas! And more fascism!
- ↑ Townhall, enter if you dare.