WHO Finally Capitulates on DDT
I have long chronicled the insane policies of the World Health Organization and other governmental and quasi-government entities restricting the use of DDT to fight malaria — the number-four cause of death worldwide.
Well, a few decades and a few million lives late, common sense and the scientific method have finally scored a much-needed victory:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reversed a 30-year policy by endorsing the use of DDT for malaria control.
…
DDT has been banned globally for every use except fighting disease because of its environmental impacts and fears for human health.WHO says there is no health risk, and DDT should rank with bednets and drugs as a tool for combating malaria, which kills more than one million each year.
Had the concerns of the 1970s about DDT (i.e., its alleged impact on the health of both birds and humans) actually had any validity, then it still would not have justified the death (and a quite horrible death) of millions upon millions of poor Africans — many of them children. I love bald eagles as much as anyone, but they’re simply not worth almost a whole generation of almost a whole continent dead.
And the “DDT Scare” was a fraud anyway — a flat-out lie by a “dedicated public servant” (FDA Administrator William Ruckleshaus) conspiring with the dishonest “friend of the earth” author (Rachel Carson) of what became a genocidal book (“Silent Spring“).
Madness. Sheer madness.
Thank goodness it’s over.
More thoughts from Pragmatic Libertarian, Out of Control.
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On a somewhat related note, one cannot help but notice that the E.Coli spinach outbreak across the country has been traced to an “organic” produce processor. How I yearn for the days when “organic” meant “carbon-based” and not vacuous hippie gobbledygook at the supermarket.
This is not a suitable subject for Schadenfreude — a person is dead and many are ill — but I found this development, well, hilarious:
A lawsuit in the spinach E-coli case has been filed in Redwood City, California, by the Seattle law firm that handled Jack in the Box and Odwalla E-coli cases.
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Lawyer William Marler says seniors are less able to fight off foodborne illness and the food supplier should have made sure the food was safe.
Of course, the two demands:
1. Don’t do anything to my food (i.e., keep it “organic”).2. Make sure the food is safe.
are inconsistent if not mutually exclusive. It would be akin to demanding that preservative-free food never spoil. But who cares? Sue them anyway. (Via Medpundit.)
Similar Posts:
- The “DDT Hoax” Hoax
- The War on Childhood…
- The Green Terror
- WHO Finds a Way to Bash American Healthcare
- AIDS: No End in Sight
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The idea that "organic" food is less safe than non-organic food seems only true for those with weakened immune systems. The vast majority of people do not have weakened immune systems; if we did, on average, have weak immune system, evolution would have long since laid us to waste.
I have in mind the millions of French who consume great quantities of unpasteurized cheese (raw-milk cheese) every year, without a hue and a cry about E. coli infestations.
I figure I should note that, as of this afternoon, all 109 cases of E. Coli infection have been traced back to NON-organic spinach.
[Kip replies. Actually no, the FDA promptly refuted Natural Selection Foods' claim to that effect as unsubstantiated.]
No, the FDA acknowledged that not every case could be traced back to a specific bag of spinach, so therefore they are ruling nothing out. ALL cases in which the source bag of the spinach was KNOWN involved non-organic spinach.
At this point I just wish they'd start selling spinach again, organic or not. I'm used to having at least 2 spinach salads a week, and since I wash my veggies in ozonated water (which is 50% more effective at killing bacteria than chlorine bleach) I'm only mildly concerned about the E Coli.
By the way, if any of the E Coli is traced back to an organic farmer, he should never farm again. Organic farmers use compost, not cow manure (where the E Coli almost certainly came from). If an organic farmer was using traditional farming methods (such as cow manure) yet labelling his crop as organic, I'm fairly sure he's breaking the law.