Oops! Missed this one.
Anopheles gambiae mosquito biting. A. gambiae is one of the several species of mosquito that is a vector for malaria. EPA/Stephen Morrison photo
August 20 is World Mosquito Day:
Pause for a moment on World Mosquito Day to reflect on the little bloodsucker that probably causes more human suffering than any other organism. Observed annually today, August 20, World Mosquito Day originated in 1897 by Dr. Ronald Ross of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, according to the American Mosquito Control Association, a nonprofit based in New Jersey.
Ross is credited with the discovery of the transmission of malaria by the mosquito, and was honored with a Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1902.
Each year 350-500 million cases of malaria occur worldwide, and over one million people die, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But malaria is not the only disease spread by mosquitoes. There’s also West Nile virus, various strains of encephalitis, Dengue Fever, Rift Valley Fever, Yellow Fever.
Resources:
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
Tor,
Check the EPA website. Check Audubon magazine. Check Duke University’s listing of toxic chemicals. Do a search on PubMed. Check the footnotes in Rachel Carson’s book.
There is no study that shows DDT is NOT harmful to people and animals. DDT is extremely deadly to birds, especially predator birds at the top of the food chain. All research indicates that. All research.
If you have some expert who says DDT is the single best way to fight malaria, I’d like to see the study and the paper. Got a reference?
South Africa is one of those places that has used DDT almost continuously since it came out. South Africa has experienced the same rise in malaria as other nations, though the current epidemics seem to be related more to failure of control programs in neighboring nations. Mexico and India have used DDT continuously since 1946, and they have experienced the same problems with a resurgence of malaria as everyone else. Mosquitoes are resistant or immune to DDT, but the big problem is that the malaria parasite has become resistant to the pharmaceuticals used to treat it in humans, at least until the rise of artimesin-based drugs.
DDT in IRS is fine, so long as it’s not used indiscriminately. Frequently DDT is contraindicated for a particular IRS program because the local mosquitoes are already resistant to it.
The single best tool we have against malaria appears to be bednets. They are cheaper than DDT, effective much longer, and they reduce infection rates dramatically (50% to 85%). DDT can’t achieve those rates alone. If we use all of our tools against malaria, we can probably get close to wiping it out. In order to do that, we have to get beyond the fantasy that DDT is some sort of panacea that it never has been, and beyond the politics that say nothing short of DDT should be supported as effective. DDT advocates have done a good job of scaring people away from effective prevention measures. It will be a long climb to get those other programs up to where they need to be.
Do a search for “DDT” on this blog — each of those issues has been discussed, some at great length.
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Ed, I’m completely with you on the evolution issue.
I cannot find any solid research that shows that DDT is harmful to people or animals. I only find expert opinions stating that it is the best agent we have against Anopheles mosquitoes today. South African health authorities certainly seem to think so.
Do you oppose use of DDT (for indoor spraying) along with organic phosphates and your mentioned public health measures?
Best,
Tor
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DDT is not the most potent insecticide against mosquitoes — in fact, many of the mosquitoes in the world are immune to it, having evolved a mutation that allows them to digest DDT as a nutrient.
Nor is DDT necessarily the insecticide of choice even for those species against which it is still effective. Among other things, DDT kills the predators of the mosquitoes.
Even were DDT the panacea some wish it to be, DDT cannot work by itself. We still need to educate people on how to avoid mosquitoes, and we need to drain their breeding places near where humans live and sleep.
DDT is not banned for use against mosquitoes, by the way. If it worked, it would be used.
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So worried about mosquitos and their accompaning diseases,mean while banning the most potent insecticide against them(DDT).
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