We always note it when environmentalists appear insufficiently sensitive to human needs, but
jiminy. Not only is DDT actually potentially
good for nature:
After many controlled experiments, eggshell thinning was found to be caused by lead, mercury, stress, older birds, dehydration, temperature extremes, human and predator intrusion, calcium and phosphorus deficiency, and even decreased illumination — but not DDT. Actually, DDT was found to reduce tumors in animals.
But get a load of these people (these are all quotations from the article):
- In the 1960s, the World Health Organization (WHO) believed that the only alternative to the overpopulation problem was to assure that 40 percent of the children in poor nations would die of malaria. An official of the Agency for International Development even stated, “Rather dead than alive and riotously reproducing.”
- Alexander King, co-founder of the Club of Rome said, “In Guyana … it had almost eliminated malaria, but at the same time, the birthrate had doubled. So my chief quarrel with DDT in hindsight is that it greatly added to the population problem.”
- Jeff Hoffman, environmental attorney (grist.org) wrote, “Malaria was actually a natural population control, and DDT has actually caused a massive population explosion in some places where it has eradicated malaria.”
Curtsy: Walter Williams. Just caught the tail end of him talking about the Club of Rome guy and googled it.
