>Andrew, Rachel Carson deserves a great deal of credit for publicizing
>the problems with DDT, however, the scientific community was keenly
>aware of these issues. They felt that the positive impact of using DDT
>outweighed the risks - the Panama Canal was built and many areas in the
>African and South American forests were explored ONLY because DDT
>controlled the mosquito and other insects. I believe we are all better
>off today because of these actions of theses scientists.
Nah, Dave. There is enough urban myths out there already.
The Panama Canal was built decades before
the advent of DDT. And the forests of
Africa and S. America were extensively explored
without DDT assistance.
The scientific community (whatever _that_ is?) was far from keenly
aware of the DDT issues, when "The Silent Spring" was publicized.
It is IMO falsification of history to assert that DDT was
used because it was felt that it had positive qualities
that _outweighed the well known risks_ pointed to by Rachel Carson,
i.e. that the use of DDT was based on a careful risk/benefit analysis.
DDT was used undiscriminatingly for any insect killing purpose;
the watch out for risks were done with blind eyes.
DDT has been (and is still) used for important insect (malaria)
control, and in this respect, some people _are_ better off
because of DDT.
But for the vast amount of DDT use .. well thanks for nothing.
We had been better off without it.
Best regards,
Torsten Brinch
-- Torsten Brinch - Risboege, 6640, Denmark - e-mail: iaotb@inet.uni-c.dk http://inet.uni-c.dk/~iaotb/ IAO Agrochemical Pages Denmark