Hooray for DDT!!
We’re always delighted when we can express solidarity with our liberal friends, and Nick Kristof couldn’t have made us happier:
In the 1950′s, 60′s and early 70′s, DDT was used to reduce malaria around the world, even eliminating it in places like Taiwan. But then the growing recognition of the harm DDT can cause in the environment – threatening the extinction of the bald eagle, for example – led DDT to be banned in the West and stigmatized worldwide. Ever since, malaria has been on the rise.
The poor countries that were able to keep malaria in check tend to be the same few that continued to use DDT, like Ecuador. Similarly, in Mexico, malaria rose and fell with the use of DDT. South Africa brought back DDT in 2000, after a switch to other pesticides had led to a surge in malaria, and now the disease is under control again. The evidence is overwhelming: DDT saves lives.
I’ve seen estimates that between 400,000 and 2,000,000 lives a year could be saved by using this pretty benign pesticide, and it would be terrific if the US could take the lead. Amazingly, Kristof has a number of environmental groups on the record that they would not oppose DDT’s re-introduction more gnerally after its recent successes after being re-introduced in South Africa.