08/28/07 Group Support for DDT

A couple of years ago I spoke of the efforts of certain doctors to allow DDT to be used in parts of Africa in the fight against malaria. The opposition they have faced from environmental groups has been fierce yet two years latter in parts of the tropics DDT is back in use. This is the same pesticide that forever eradiated malaria in Europe and the US decades ago. The tide towards DDT is changing. To date The World Health Organization and the Global Fund to Fight Aids are among a growing collation backing the use of the chemical indoors in Malaria stricken regions. In fact the The New York Times recently featured a pro-DDT ob-ed by a professor of tropical medicine, Donald Roberts who counters the concerns that mosquitoes will simply develop a resistance to DDT by stating that even those with a resistance will not enter a room sprayed with the pesticide. Is it elitism or ignorance that causes certain groups in developed countries to attempt to ban the best weapon that exists to save thousands of lives from Malaria over environmental concerns.