Soon after the program collapsed, mosquito control lost access to its crucial tool, DDT. The problem was overuse—not by malaria fighters but by farmers, especially cotton growers, trying to protect their crops. The spray was so cheap that many times the necessary doses were sometimes applied. The insecticide accumulated in the soil and tainted watercourses. Though nontoxic to humans, DDT harmed peregrine falcons, sea lions, and salmon, [especially predators of mosquitoes]. In 1962 Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, documenting this abuse and painting so damning a picture that the chemical was eventually outlawed by most of the world for agricultural use [years later]. Exceptions were made for malaria control, but DDT became nearly impossible to procure. “The ban on DDT,” says Gwadz of the National Institutes of Health, “may have killed 20 million children.”
[emphasis in original]
If I were at the National Geographic I would be embarrassed to have let that last sentence go to press, without making clear the chain of consequences that led to DDt being unavailable for malaria control. The deaths of 20 million children cannot be laid at the feet of environmentalists or Rachel Carson, but instead at the agriculture of the time and it’s love for chemical remediation of natural factors. If DDT had been used responsibly, it would not have been removed from the market. But it’s too easy to blame the messenger, especially if they are a. dead and b. part of a movement your fans despise.
My letter to the National Geographic Society:
Editor:
In your recent issue, your feature on malaria contains this passage:
Soon after the program collapsed, mosquito control lost access to its crucial tool, DDT. The problem was overuse—not by malaria fighters but by farmers, especially cotton growers, trying to protect their crops. The spray was so cheap that many times the necessary doses were sometimes applied. The insecticide accumulated in the soil and tainted watercourses. Though nontoxic to humans, DDT harmed peregrine falcons, sea lions, and salmon. In 1962 Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, documenting this abuse and painting so damning a picture that the chemical was eventually outlawed by most of the world for agricultural use. Exceptions were made for malaria control, but DDT became nearly impossible to procure. “The ban on DDT,” says Gwadz of the National Institutes of Health, “may have killed 20 million children.”
Unfortunately, there is an organized effort to discredit the work of Rachel Carson[1] and other environmentalists[2] and the unfortunate phrasing of the last sentence is being used to further that effort. It’s clear to anyone who has the reading comprehension to subscribe to National Geographic what is meant here — that overuse of a cheap but dangerous chemical led to its removal from the market, regardless of it’s public health benefits — but I expect National Geographic will now be used as another weapon in the war on science.
I hope you can address this in a later issue.
Thanks.
1 http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/05/who_put_out_the_contract_on_ra.php
2 http://www.google.com/search?q=deltoid+rachel+carson&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a