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DDT redeemed: Can the much-maligned chemical save lives?

Date published: 9/25/2006

'Silent' no more

WHO shouts the news: DDT saves lives

DDT DESTROYS the environment and should be banned, right? Wrong. Let us now put to rest that "truth" and get on with the business of saving lives, with the blessings of the World Health Organization--and the help of that much-maligned chemical.

Ever since Rachel Carson launched the modern environmental movement with her 1962 book "Silent Spring," DDT has been the bane of greens. Blamed for ills as diverse as human cancer and the decline of the bald eagle, it was banned in the U.S. in the early 1970s. Yet three decades of careful scientific investigation have failed to link DDT, used properly , to the crimes with which it was charged. To the contrary, studies have shown that the pesticide can be a cheap and effective lifesaver in countries plagued by malaria.

Now even the U.N.'s health arm has seen the light. WHO just announced a campaign to promote the use of DDT in developing nations. Malaria, the No. 1 killer of pregnant women and children in Africa and a major cause of death in Asia and South America, also debilitates workers, depresses economies, and deters investment. Arata Kochi, the head of WHO's malaria program, says, "One of the best tools we have against malaria is indoor residential spraying. Of the dozen or so insecticides WHO has approved as safe for house spraying, the most effective is DDT." He adds, "We must take a position based on the science and the data." The science is clear: A light spray of DDT on the interiors of dwellings can kill malaria-bearing mosquitoes without harming humans, livestock, or Mother Nature.

Fundamentalist greens should note that even Ms. Carson qualified her distaste for the chemical. In "Silent Spring" she wrote, concerning DDT: "Practical advice should be 'Spray as little as you possibly can' rather than 'Spray to the limit of your capacity.'" Not a total ban, in other words, but limited, careful use.

One million people each year die of malaria, which sickens perhaps another 500 million. Ninety percent of the deaths are of children in Africa under age 5. That's a lot of mothers and fathers left devastated, a lot of lives unlived, a lot of potential unrealized. Now there's hope, thanks to WHO and what: DDT.

Date published: 9/25/2006