Kent Jackson’s recent article about how Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, visited Hawk Mountain to collect data to support her allegation that the bald eagles’ reproductive prowess was being decimated by use of DDT (“Hawk Mountain data helped save bald eagle, July 2, 2007) fails to tell the whole story. Millions of children have died from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and throughout the Third World due to the ban on DDT.
According to the Journal of Emerging and Infectious Diseases (2002), “Today, DDT is still needed for malaria control. If the pressure to abandon this effective insecticide continues,… millions of additional malaria cases worldwide [will result] …. We are now facing the unprecedented event of eliminating, without meaningful debate, the most cost-effective chemical we have for the prevention of malaria. The health of hundreds of millions of persons in malaria-endemic countries should be given greater consideration before proceeding further with the present course of action.” Millions of lives were traded for hysteria about 10,000 pairs of balding birds. In Rachel Carson’s case, the bald truth may not support the iconic balderdash.
Ralph W. Conner ([email protected]) is local legislation manager for The Heartland Institute.
