Monday, August 20, 2007
Legalize DDT now
I have written before that the United States government ought to revise its absolutist position on the use of DDT in the developing world. Unfortunately, I was not witty enough to put it this way:
The debate over DDT is over. There's scientific consensus. Anyone who disagrees is a DDT denialist and a mouthpiece for Big Mosquito.
9 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon Aug 20, 05:13:00 PM:
But DDT is a chemical. Made by capitalists for PROFIT. It must be bad, it is not green. In the same grouping as Halliburton and Cheney.
SEW
By , at
Mon Aug 20, 05:27:00 PM:
Rachel Carson may have been the greatest mass killer in world history (albeit unintentionally).
By 
Purple Avenger, at
Mon Aug 20, 07:43:00 PM:
Perhaps not even unintentionally...
By , at
Mon Aug 20, 07:46:00 PM:
When analysis follows actions then outcomes can be predictably strange.
By , at
Mon Aug 20, 07:51:00 PM:
It's hard to really dig up info on this since it largely preceded the net when the discussion was active, but a real good scholarly book on how this all evolved would be a worthy endeavor.
By TigerHawk, at
Mon Aug 20, 08:17:00 PM:
Let's not harsh on Rachel Carson. DDT as it was used in her time was, in fact, enormously destructive to wildlife. The new support for DDT involves a different use -- low level applications inside dwellings, which turn out to have a tremendously protective effect for humans who sleep in those dwellings. Different from spraying crops and such with massive doses.
We can have eagles and protect people against malaria -- we just did not understand it when she wrote her book.
By Purple Avenger, at
Mon Aug 20, 09:40:00 PM:
Carson's book was chock full of bunk and lousy science and she knew it.
By , at
Tue Aug 21, 12:55:00 AM:
RACHEAL CARSON used lies and junk science in her book SILENT SPRING is try and bllame DDT for the loss of certian birds in fact the thining of bird egg shells had nothing to do with DDT i mean fright and adverse weather can effect the egg shells of birds more then any man made stuff
By , at
Tue Aug 21, 02:19:00 AM:
I recently read an article by a compatriot of Carson, someone who said he was a scientist. He agreed with Carson until he read her book and discovevered it contained lies and half truths.
