Prolonged Psychological Fear Based on Unfounded/Distorted Claims:
Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane (DDT) Insecticide - a.k.a. Silent Spring
The Science
Many false claims were leveled against DDT. The allegations raised were (1) DDT was a carcinogen, and (2) it endangered the environment, in particular for certain birds. After three decades of study, DDT has never been credibly linked with cancer or non-cancer health effects in humans. No scientific experiment has ever shown that typical levels of DDT found in the environment cause the thinning of bird egg shells – a mechanism by which DDT was alleged to have harmed birds. It is interesting that the bird populations actually rebounded during the period of the greatest DDT use. In the end, the ban on DDT was never validated with hard science and instead was grounded in junk science.
Indoor residual house spraying (IRS) is a malaria control intervention targeted at the malaria vector mosquito. Trained spray operators equipped with hand held pumps, spray the inside surface of the walls with a residual insecticide (DDT). The insecticide then dries and forms a crystalline deposit on the sprayed surface. The insecticides used in IRS effects the malaria vector mosquitoes in several ways. When a house is sprayed mosquitoes are repelled and deterred from entering and biting. In huts sprayed with DDT, approximately 60% of the mosquitoes are repelled by the DDT and deterred from entering. The excito-repellent effect causes discomfort to mosquitoes that do enter houses and that come into contact with the sprayed surface causing the mosquitoes to either die or to exit before biting.
The Cost
The cost of this scare is measured in human lives. This scare over the past three decades has caused the needless death of 30 million innocent young children strangled by the claws of malaria. Most of these children are poor, black and live in Africa.
What say yeah, Lion? I say "the environmental movement has no soul."
The cost of this scare is measured in human misery. Almost a half billion people fall victum to malaria each year. A half a billion - 500,000,000 souls! Malaria is very debilitating, stealing vigor and vitality. It causes high fever and chills. Many individuals suffer recurring bouts. It saps the strength and productivity of countless human beings in underdeveloped countries.
What say yeah, Tinman? I say "the environmental movement has no heart."
This scare deprived humanity of a very effective weapon in the war against major diseases and plagues. At least 80 percent of human infectious diseases are arthropod-borne—transmitted by mosquitos, lice, fleas, ticks, bedbugs, and mites. In the past, these diseases have caused the death of hundreds of millions of people by infecting them with the pathogens that cause typhus, bubonic plague, yellow fever, malaria, dengue fever, sleeping sickness, encephalitis (such as West Nile virus), elephantiasis, leishmaniasis, Lyme disease and yaws. DDT is a miracle chemical compound that can protect and shield mankind from the claws of these deadly scourges.
What say yeah, Scarecrow? I say "the environmental movement has no brain."
"What they need is a little courage!"