Originally Posted by
FDXLAG
I can find hundreds of refrences for Malaria deaths and DDT bans that range from 1 million to 2.5 million a year. You cant?
OK. What came up at random was The American Council on Science and Health.
Here's what they say:
No DDT-related human fatalities or chronic illnesses have ever been recorded, even among the DDT-soaked workers in anti-malarial programs or among prisoners who were fed DDT as volunteer test subjects — let alone among the 600 million to 1 billion who lived in repeatedly-sprayed dwellings at the height of the substance's use. The only recorded cases of DDT poisoning were from massive accidental or suicidal ingestions, and even in these cases, it was probably the kerosene solvent rather than the DDT itself that caused illness. Reports of injury to birds could not be verified, even when one researcher force-fed DDT-laced worms to baby robins. Reports of fish kills have been greatly exaggerated, resulting from faulty data or aberrant, massive spills or overuse of the chemical that do not hint at a general danger in its use.
http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/new...sue_detail.asp
Wow. They also say that the National Academy of Science recommends the further
use of DDT, a claim so misleading as to be considered a lie by omission.
I noticed they don't mention the number of malaria deaths due to DDT resistant mosquitoes but I did find their corporate sponsors [from 1984 - they no longer publish this information] to include Dow, Dupont, Mosanto, Union Carbide and Uniroyal Chemical, petro chemical companies that, I'm guessing, manufacture DDT.
Your first malaria death number due to the ban on DDT was 3 billion. The second was 450 million, a difference of 85%. The American Council on Science and Health put the number at between 1 - 2 million a year for a total of between 30 to 60 million [another 86% to 94% difference] but as far as I'm concerned, they have no credibility on the subject.
American Council on Science and Health - SourceWatch