DDT: The big lie continues
Ever since I can remember, my Dad was complaining about the demise of the pesticide DDT. "There were no mosquitos back then," he still says to this day. He always insisted that the reasons used by the environmentalists to create the near panic that led to its being outlawed was nothing but a bunch of hogwash.
West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitus
(EEE) were unheard of back then. Malaria was in check – even in the poorest parts of the globe like Africa. How many thousands have died as a direct result of the infamous 1972 ban of DDT?
A July 7th FrontPage Magazine article, DDT: The Bald Eagle Lie, by Steven Milloy shows that the product is still being slammed even after all these years.
In its July 4 article reporting that the number of bald eagle pairs in Pennsylvania had increased from 3 in 1983 to 100 for the first time in over a century, the Associated Press reached into its file of bald eagle folklore and reported, “DDT poisoned the birds, killing some adults and making the eggs of those that survived thin. The thin eggs dramatically reduced the chances of eaglets surviving to adulthood. DDT was banned in 1972. The next year, the Endangered Species Act passed and the bald eagles began their dramatic recovery.”
Why does DDT still get such a bum rap, despite ample evidence that much of the science upon which its elimination was based was shown to be incorrect? Again, from the FrontPage Magazine piece, Milloy writes
it’s the myths, not the facts that endure. Why? The answer is endless repetition. The environmentalists who wanted DDT banned have constantly repeated the myths over the last 40 years, while most of DDT’s defenders lost interest after the miracle chemical was summarily banned in 1972 by EPA administrator William Ruckleshaus.
to read the entire article. As the state of New Hampshire is expending funds to study mosquitos, just remember that we didn’t always have to contend with them to the extent we do today.
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