Malaria and DDT scandal

[Ragen]

This is a part of an article that I read today in the Sunday paper . It was on page 21 and was a tiny article so I doubt anyone else saw it. I wont type it all out as about half is irrelevant.

 

 

 

The biggest killer in Africa, bigger than HIV/ Aids, is malaria. In Uganda alone it is responsible for the deaths of more than 100,000 children a year, and as the Ugandan government is keenly aware, this could be cut down to a fraction simply by spraying homes with DDT. The world Health Organisation approves, but the EU does not, which has put the Ugandan authorities in an impossible position.

 

Uganda's economy depends on the EU, to which it sends more than half its exports of coffee, flower, fruit, vegitables and other agricultural porducts. Through Tom Vens, the head of the EU's trade delegation to Uganda, it has repeatedly been indicated that, if Uganda persists in its intention to allow "indoors residual spraying" with DDT, this could imperil the countries export trade - even though, as Uganda's health minister points out, none of this spray will "come into contact with the exports".

 

 

 

To sum up, Death from Malaria could be dramatically cut by spraying DDT into houses. However the EU doesn't like that, even though none of the Food grown there will come into contact with the DDT. So they are threatening to stop trading with them if they do any spraying. So what the EU is doing is allowing hundreds of thousands to die because they don't want DDT to even go near our precious food as someone here might get ill.

 

 

 

I posted this because it interested me, made me think and showed to me, how much we are screwing over Africa. Stuff like this disgusts me.

[Necromagus]

DDT can be highly damaging to the enviroment. It is also a known carcinogen for animals and a probable carcinogen for humans. I think the EU protest against using it might be because of that.

[Phil]

DDT was used a lot in Africa in the 60's and people thought it would end malaria, but by the 70's there were mosquitos which were resistant to DDT.

 

 

 

Read more about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria#DDT_insecticide

[WutangFlu]

i beleive DDT causes birth defects.. :-s

[knives669]

DDT is extremely dangerous. Isn't it illegal to use here in America?

[WutangFlu]

DDT is extremely dangerous. Isn't it illegal to use here in America?

 

 

 

i beleive it also killed eagles... :-k hence the reason it became illegal

[Tigra00]

Yea, it's illegal in America I think. We have an old bottle of Deet or whatever it was called with DDT in it...Found it in the basement. :P

 

 

 

It messes up the enviroment big time, I was told.

 

 

 

People are gonna' die in Africa. It's a bad place. You can shove billions of dollars in there and people are still going to die. I don't understand why *NOW* this is such a huge issue. It isn't like people just now started dropping dead. Something like 75% of people in most parts of Africa have AIDS and everyone is spending money to keep them alive longer...I just don't get it. We can't even keep people in the states and stuff alive. :lol:

 

 

 

Anyways, I don't blame Europe. Looking out for yourselves is nothing to be ashamed of. Infact, we'd all be a lot better off if we did just that. :P

 

 

 

Have no fear, Bill Gate's and Warren Buffet's money is on the way soon. Go go AIDS medicine! Stay alive to spread the disease! :P

[unknownmasterofnothing]

You can read the effects of ddt in a book by rachel carson called silent spring. It disrupts the food chains, causes cancer in other organism and possibly humans.

[Giordano]

Yea, it's illegal in America I think. We have an old bottle of Deet or whatever it was called with DDT in it...Found it in the basement. :P

 

 

 

It messes up the enviroment big time, I was told.

 

 

 

People are gonna' die in Africa. It's a bad place. You can shove billions of dollars in there and people are still going to die. I don't understand why *NOW* this is such a huge issue. It isn't like people just now started dropping dead. Something like 75% of people in most parts of Africa have AIDS and everyone is spending money to keep them alive longer...I just don't get it. We can't even keep people in the states and stuff alive. :lol:

 

 

 

Anyways, I don't blame Europe. Looking out for yourselves is nothing to be ashamed of. Infact, we'd all be a lot better off if we did just that. :P

 

 

 

Have no fear, Bill Gate's and Warren Buffet's money is on the way soon. Go go AIDS medicine! Stay alive to spread the disease! :P

 

Tell that to George Bush please.

[mad4u689]

There was ANOTHER huge scandal with DDT, quite a bit back - when it was used to kill mosquitoes as a pesticide, and wound up being toxic and causing all sorts of problems with the delicate ecology out there... There was a big operation involving dropping cats or something to try to fix it...

 

 

 

So the EU doesn't want to cause another scandal by allowing DDT again, because the phrase "DDT" has such a negative connotative sound to the older generation (ask your parents). No one wants a toxin to be allowed again, right?

 

 

 

As Phil said, its effectiveness isn't perfect, but it's still better than most things out there. Just because antibiotics are starting to cause bacteria to get resistance to them, doesn't mean we should stop using antibiotics if it's going to save lives. DDT would start preventing needless death NOW, and the benefits of DDT clearly outweigh the hazards in terms of human life.

[Ragen]

Ahah thanks for that link phil, it gave a few less biased arguements (throws newspaper aside).

 

 

 

If you read some of the stuff on DDT that I looked up as well you might better grasp the arguement.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT#Environmental_impact

 

 

 

Here are a few quotes (I hare the way everything refers to hilter by the way)

 

 

 

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. Banning DDT killed more people than Hitler.[46]

 

 

 

One of the salient pro-DDT arguments is that the ban shows a lack of compassion for sufferers in the Third World: treatments were used long enough to eliminate insect-borne diseases in the West, but now that it is only needed in poorer nations in Africa, Asia and elsewhere, it has been banned.

 

 

 

DDT was responsible for eradicating malaria from Europe and North America

 

 

 

There are no substantial scientific studies so far which prove that DDT is particularly toxic to humans or other primates, compared to other widely-used pesticides.