Saturday, September 16, 2006

DDT back in business


Malaria, carried by the mosquito, kills more than a million each year.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reversed a 30-year policy by endorsing the use of DDT for malaria control.

The chemical is sprayed inside houses to kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

DDT has been banned globally for every use except fighting disease because of its environmental impacts and fears for human health.

Supporters of the DDT say since the ban, two million people a year have died unnecessarily from malaria, mostly children. The ban has caused more than fifty million needless deaths.

It just seems that the policy to ban DDT in the first place was poorly thought out and it had far reaching implications especially in the poorer countries that could not afford other forms of more expensive pesticides.

Why did it take WHO 30 years to realize DDT wasn't harmful to humans and infact it could save so many lives, who otherwise died from malaria? What a first class controversy this has come to. There must be many conspiracy theories floating around.

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