“100 things you should know about DDT?” Oh, hell. That’s nothing.
Here’s a list of 300+ things you should know about DDT that Steven Milloy and the “Competitive Enterprise” Institute want to hide from you. Rather than bullet points, these are the actual articles from this blog and from original sources, featuring links to even more information.
These are the facts, the history, science and law that demonstrate Rachel Carson was correct in Silent Spring; that DDT was never banned from fighting malaria (though it was banned from crop use in the U.S.). These are the facts, that despite difficulties caused by DDT’s failure as a miracle pesticide against malaria-carrying mosquitoes, malaria infections and deaths dropped and plunged continuously, from 1972 and the U.S. ban on DDT on crops, to today.
At peak DDT use, roughly from 1958 to 1963, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated malaria deaths world wide at 5 million per year, declining to about 4 million per year by 1963. 500 million people were infected with malaria every year — a half billion, or 17% of the entire world population at that time. WHO conducted an ambitious malaria-eradication campaign starting in 1955. It was based on the ability to temporarily knock down mosquito populations, with DDT sprayed on the walls of homes of people in malaria-endemic areas. But in 1963, when the campaign moved to central Africa, WHO workers discovered mosquitoes there had developed resistance and immunity to DDT due to use in agriculture and pest control. Without a pesticide to give a recess from infection spread, WHO had to end the program. Workers had stopped nation-wide campaigns by 1965, and WHO’s World Health Assembly officially abandoned the campaign in 1969.
Despite that campaign’s end, malaria continued to decline. By 1972, when the U.S. banned DDT on crops and sent all DDT produced to fight vector-borne diseases, the death toll dropped to just over 3 million per year. By 1985, just over 1.5 million deaths were counted annually. But then malaria parasites themselves — tiny animals — developed resistance to the pharmaceuticals used to cure the disease in humans. For the next decade, malaria infections rose modestly in some places.
New pharmaceutical regimens, and renewed vigor in prevention campaigns, kicked in about 1999. Since then malaria deaths have fallen, from over a million per year to fewer than 500,000 per year. Total infections dropped to 212 million per year — a 60% reduction since WHO ended the eradication campaign.
Promising and encouraging progress against malaria spurs talk once again of eradication of the disease. But there is still much work to do, and very thorny problems to solve — like drug-resistant malaria, and pesticide resistant mosquitoes.
* * * * *
Please, Dear Reader, Dear Researcher, Dear Policy Maker, check out the several outstanding resources from other publications that I have listed at the bottom of this list, below the “Gordo” cartoon. Those sources boil down much of the best information here, and they write it better than I do.
300+ essays and articles at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub relating to DDT, in reverse chronological order (note this list may not be complete; for more articles, use the “search” feature and look for DDT and/or malaria in posts on this blog):
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Seminal DDT source: Cottam’s 1946 monograph on harms of DDT, USFWS “Circular 11,” May 10, 2021
- World Malaria Day was April 25: WHO’s fact sheet, April 26, 2021
- World Malaria Report 2020: Governments fell short of pledges, malaria poised to make a comeback, December 1, 2020
- Ruckelshaus, Sweeney and DDT: Rescued from the archives, for the record, January 14, 2020
- April 25, 2019, is World Malaria Day, April 25, 2019
- World Malaria Report 2018: Quick blueprint for action, no standing still, December 27, 2018
- World Malaria Report 2018, world looks away as malaria bounces back, December 7, 2018
- Ban of DDT did not cause a rise of malaria, or malaria deaths October 23, 2018
- Annals of DDT: When they sprayed DDT from airplanes to stop polio, August 10, 2018
- Historic Deltoid, Indur Goklany on DDT, corrections from Tim Lambert, April 10, 2018
- DDT has become harmless to mosquitoes today, March 29, 2018
- Rachel Carson’s environmental writings collected by Library of America, March 27, 2018
- Rachel Carson warned us; you thought it was just DDT? March 21, 2018
- Sri Lanka declared malaria-free, without DDT, March 6, 2018
- Bad news from World Malaria Report 2017: Malaria fight stalled, December 20, 2017
Cover of World Malaria Report 2017. The fight against malaria is at a crossroads, WHO reports.
- Map showing decline in DDT use, 2000-2014, September 22, 2017
- Annals of DDT: Eagles return to Buffalo, New York, in a big way, July 27, 2017
- Mozambique uses 4 million mosquito nets in turn from pesticide, in war on malaria, June 20, 2017
- Malaria uptick in Botswana: No, more DDT can’t help, March 28, 2017
- Brazil’s Yellow Fever outbreak: Medical stuff we should know, from NAIAD, March 9, 2017
- Disney showed how to beat malaria in the Americas, without DDT, February 26, 2017
- Suicide with DDT: DDT can kill humans, February 13, 2017
- No, Rachel Carson did not cause an increase in malaria; bonus film to PBS American Experience “Rachel Carson,” February 7, 2017
- Fact sheet for World Malaria Report 2016, December 16, 2016
- Good news, or great challenge? U.S. could help eliminate malaria, December 13, 2016
- WHO’s World Malaria Report 2016 shows great progress, but funding slowdown hurts the fight against malaria, December 13, 2016
- Why we need war on the mosquito, the deadliest animal – Bill Gates, October 16, 2016
- DDT FAIL: Mosquito-borne diseases deplete medical care in DDT’s world capital, September 15, 2016
- Men who can help us fight mosquitoes in the post-DDT world! June 23, 2016
- Quote of the moment: DDT ban justified, Judge Malcolm R. Wilkey, June 20, 2016
- DDT use declined to just 10 nations in 2015; gone by 2020, April 13, 2016
- Spark ignited a fire that became an environmental alarm, Silent Spring, February 3, 2016
- Report that malaria and DDT hoaxsters hope you never see, January 21, 2016 (World Malaria Report 2015)
- India, world’s last DDT maker and heaviest user, plans to stop, August 29, 2015
- Christmas Bird Count issue: Eagles did not prosper during the ‘time of DDT,’ August 26, 2015
- Malaria No More notes milestone: Malaria at all-time low, August 20, 2015
- Malaria Twitterstorm, summer of 2015, August 18, 2015
- India, world’s top DDT user, socked with malaria increase, July 22, 2015
- EPA’s history of the cancellation of the pesticide registration of DDT, July 21, 2015
- Hoax victims afraid to discuss their misplaced DDT & malaria anger . . . , July 20, 2015
- I get e-mail: Nothing But Nets needs your help with Congress, to fight malaria, May 26, 2015
- Letter to IVCC: Please correct history of DDT, May 25, 2015
- WHO’s malaria fact sheet, April 2015 edition, May 17, 2015
- Do something to fight malaria today: April 25, 2015, is World Malaria Day, April 25, 2015
- Good news: Malaria deaths cut by half in last 15 years, March 20, 2015
- Rachel Carson sketch, March 4, 2015
- How is DDT used to fight malaria? February 20, 2015
- Malaria fight 2015, February 20, 2015
- Bill Gates agrees, we can eradicate malaria in a generation, January 9, 2015
- Want to do a good turn? Nothing But Nets needs you to save a kid from malaria. It’s cheap, December 30,2014
- World Malaria Report 2014: Dramatic progress, no call for DDT, December 9, 2014
- November is National Malaria Awareness Month in the Philippines, November 9, 2014
- Oh, look: EPA ordered DDT to be used to fight malaria in 1972! October 29, 2014
- Curing malaria in the USA, 1938, September 26, 2014
- UN General Assembly notes progress against malaria, September 16, 2014
- Go read “The Enduring Relevance of Rachel Carson,” September 3, 2014
- Rachel Carson, Pen Against Poison (State Department bio), August 4, 2014
- Annals of DDT: Study implicates DDT in human obesity and diabetes, August 1, 2014
- Quiggin: DDT hoax a Zombie Myth, July 16, 2014
- No, DDT was not ‘erroneously’ banned from the world, July 13, 2014
- Does “Twitchy” really just mean “knee jerk?” Correcting the record, deflecting the hoaxes, propaganda and Mau-Mauing about Rachel Carson and DDT, June 1, 2014
- Yes, malaria is still a plague; it’s not Rachel Carson’s fault, and your saying so probably kills kids, May 30, 2014
- Rachel Carson star of Google Doodle on her 107th birthday, May 27, 2014
- World Malaria Day 2014 – How can you help beat the disease? April 25, 2014
- DOI honored Rachel Carson in Women’s History Month, April 6, 2014
- Annals of DDT: Rachel Carson was right, DDT hurts birds, April 6, 2014
- Nothing But Nets invites you to join in the fight against malaria for World Malaria Day, April 3, 2014
- 2001 press release from NIAID, mosquito genome sequencing project: “DDT was once a powerful tool,” March 24, 2014
- World Malaria Report 2013 shows major progress in fight against malaria, calls for sustained financing (but not DDT), March 21, 2014
- Ugandan court turned back challenge to DDT use, March 19, 2014
- Thank you, Rachel Carson! March 16, 2014
- Legacy of DDT abuse, cleaning up old pesticide dumps, February 15, 2014
- Texas researchers tease out correlation between DDT exposure and late-onset Alzheimer’s, February 2014
- No, Congress did not “overreact” to DDT, October 30, 2013
- Perfect autumn walk, Rachel Carson NWR, September 24, 2013
- Typewriters of the moment: Mitford and Carson, two environmental journalists, September 24, 2013
- Yes, DDT is deadly to humans, as suicides demonstrate, September 16, 2013
- Rachel Carson project won first at National History Day competition, June 19, 2013
- Querying the Rachel Carson critics (who turned out the light?), June 19, 2013
- Quote of the moment: Rachel Carson, on why her nature writing sounds so much like poetry, June 14, 2013
- Why it’s important to have accurate science and history on the internet: Don’t lie to kids about DDT, June 6, 2013
- Resources for World Malaria Day 2013, April 25, 2013
- Rachel Carson/DDT hoaxing from the Ayn Rand Institute, April 21, 2013
- Perpetuating Crichton’s version of the DDT hoax, April 16, 2013
- Eagles! We reduced DDT, and the eagles recovered, January 28, 2013
- Passing the 200 mark on Rachel Carson, DDT and malaria, January 13, 2013
- World Malaria Report 2012: Malaria still declining, but more resources needed fast, January 4, 2013
- Split in the environmental movement? No, facts still matter, December 21, 2012
- Longevity of DDT, in pictures, December 16, 2012
- Still no ban on DDT: Treaty monitors allow DDT use to continue, December 16, 2012
- Use of Pesticides: Report of the President’s Science Advisory Committee, May 15, 1963, December 12, 2012; This is the full text of the long-unavailable report of some of the nation’s top biologists, entomologists, and chemists, to President Kennedy. In late 1962, Kennedy asked the President’s Science Advisory Committee to check out
Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring. Official photo as FWS employee. c. 1940. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Carson’s book for accuracy. In their report, the scientists vindicated Carson’s citations of science; though they off-handedly criticized her non-scientific writing style, they also recommended much quicker action against DDT than Carson had dared to suggest. This report established that Carson was accurate, and that the science she cited was solid. Both points are still valid today.
- Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring at 50: A catalog of tributes, December 11, 2012
- Rachel Carson biography, On a Farther Shore, one of the best books of 2012, December 4, 2012
- Doubt, about the science of tobacco consumption, DDT, and global warming, October 6, 2012
Photo taken at Rachel Carson’s 100th Birthday celebration at Rachel Carson Homestead in Springdale, PA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
- Laissez Faire Today, lazy and unfair as yesterday, on issues of DDT and malaria, September 25, 2012 (corrections to Henry I. Miller’s Forbes dysinformation piece)
- Labor Day Bathtub Reading, Part 2, September 6, 2012
- Vote in Rachel Carson Sense of Water Contest winning photographs, July 18, 2012
- Meanwhile, back in reality, Superfund cleanup of Torrance DDT site continues, July 11, 2012
- Silent Spring’s 50th anniversary: Birds sing, air is cleaner, water is cleaner, June 16, 2012
- Rachel Carson’s Birthday, May 28, 2012
- Annals of DDT: Pesticide starred in 1944 Army film, April 5, 2012
- Annals of DDT: Canada’s Earth Tones on the harms of DDT, March 25, 2012
- Rachel Carson in history: Great post at Pop History Dig, February 22, 2012
- Say What? India only now figures out that DDT kills birds? January 17, 2012
- DDT News: Ethio Sun reports “Ethiopia and Botswana in banned DDT deal, January 12, 2012
- More misunderstanding of the case against DDT, December 21, 2011
- Annals of DDT: No DDT produces benefits in Thunder Bay, Ontario, December 4, 2011
- Art historians do better than conservatives on the history of DDT, November 21, 2011
- Find the nerd loop – science education and communication for a troubled and troubling world, October 14, 2011
- Burt Folsom’s blog distorts history of DDT, October 13, 2011
- Regulation works, September 21, 2011
- Sideshow of DDT and malaria, August 23, 2011
- Poisoning the children: Study shows mothers give DDT to their children from breastmilk, July 29, 2011
- Sowell wrong about DDT and Rachel Carson, May 16, 2011
- Heritage Foundation urges that Africa be poisoned, May 7, 2011
- Monday is World Malaria Day, watch out for the pro-DDT hoaxes, April 23, 2011
- Anecdotal evidence: Malaria spreads to Tanzania highlands, warming climate blamed, April 16, 2011
- WHO, DDT and the Persistent Organic Pesticides Treaty: Historic view from the inside, March 19, 2011
- Green Hell? Milloy slanders Ruckelshaus as “mass murderer, March 10, 2011
- Hoaxing Congress: Claiming DDT as pixie dust, March 9, 2011
- “Massive populations of misquotes” said to kill millions, March 5, 2011
- Jay Ambrose: Still wrong about DDT and malaria, February 27, 2011
- A fungus to fight malaria?, February 24, 2011
- Debunking Junk Science’s hoax “100 Things You Should Know About DDT”: #14, William Ruckelshaus’s bias, February 17, 2011
- USAID policy statement on DDT and malaria control, February 16, 2011
- No, DDT is not the easy answer to malaria, February 13, 2011
- George Clooney’s malaria? DDT didn’t cure it, January 25, 2011
- Annals of Hoaxes: American Enterprise Institute sends out hoax backgrounder on DDT and trade barriers, January 25, 2011
- Roger Bate’s simple lie about DDT, January 22, 2011
- Annals of DDT: 1946 warning of the dangers of DDT, January 6, 2011
- Lens incompetence: Watts Up looks through the wrong end of the telescope, December 27, 2010
- EPA at 40: Director Jackson claims too much?, December 18, 2010
- President’s Malaria Initiative: Plans for FY 2011, December 14, 2010
- Mandy Moore Talks Mosquito Nets – ABC News, December 13, 2010
- Ducking the quacks on DDT, December 9, 2010
- Quote of the moment: 1971, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia orders a review of the safety of DDT
- Delingpole: Wrong and bitter on DDT, November 21, 2010
- Red State: You’ll hear the banjoes, November 8, 2010
- DDT: Zombie ideas of the right-winged and ill-informed, November 9, 2010
- DDT or PCB?, November 1, 2010
- Lancet special issue on malaria: No call for more DDT, October 30, 2010
- DDT hoaxsters predictably spinning India/malaria deaths story — wrongly, October 28, 2010
- Quote of the moment: Lewis Carroll on Republican politics, climate skeptics, DDT advocates, and creationism, October 26, 2010
- Called this one right: DDT advocates think poison is always the answer, October 25, 2010
- Malaria deaths in India under-reported? Bad news for pro-DDT partisans, October 22, 2010
- Annals of DDT: Interior Department compliments Rachel Carson’s research in Silent Spring, October 17, 2010
- How evolution makes bedbugs resistant to DDT, October 12, 2010
- Annals of DDT: Remembering Rachel Carson, October 8, 2010
- “3 billion and counting” — the errors one makes when using Howard Stern as a science advisor, October 7, 2010
- Tupper takes up the quill, September 23, 2010
- Truth in a fair fight: Eli Rabett explains Gates Foundation’s good work against malaria, September 21, 2010
- Still evil and wrong: McIlhinney still leads a cover up of malaria facts, September 20, 2010
- DDT can’t fight bedbugs, September 19, 2010
- Anthony Watts targets Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub, ends up getting scrubbed, September 14, 2010
- Annals of DDT: 880,000 died from malaria in 2008, August 26, 2010
- Velsicol Chemical vs. Rachel Carson — the lawsuit that didn’t happen, August 23, 2010
- DDT and birth defects: South African television asks questions, July 23, 2010
- University of Arizona’s “malaria-proof” mosquito, July 15, 2010
- Tea Party symbols: Forgetting history and science, July 13, 2010
- Another study on human health and DDT: ADHD linked to DDT and other pesticides, July 7, 2010
- Africa Fighting Malaria claims to be fighting malaria, July 6, 2010
- Annals of DDT: Malawi ponders DDT use against malaria, June 21, 2010
- French researchers find link between DDT exposure and Parkinson’s Disease, June 16, 2010
- Fighting malaria: Bednets crucial, June 12, 2010
- Does Africa Fighting Malaria actually fight malaria? June 11, 2010 (format fixed in post) (original post here, with formatting errors, and rather robust comments; see this one for the comments)
- A cocktail with gin and DDT? Slim chance, June 10, 2010
- Lorrie Otto, environmental warrior, June 9, 2010
- Washington Times felled by DDT poisoning, June 9, 2010
- False claims on DDT, June 6, 2010
- DDT-style problems remain, June 2, 2010
- DDT: One of the 50 worst inventions, May 30, 2010
- Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds, poisoned by DDT, May 24, 2010
- Good news: Warming probably won’t expand malaria much, May 19, 2010
- Wall Street Journal’s DDT-fueled war on science, May 12, 2010
- Nature Conservancy: Rachel Carson, May 3, 2010
- Quote of the moment: Jonathan Weiner’s Pulitzer-winning explanation of mosquitoes’ developing immunity to DDT, April 30, 2010
- Decline and fall of the Wall Street Journal — DDT poisoning to blame? April 27, 2010
- Strike a blow against malaria, for World Malaria Day, April 25, 2010
- World Malaria Day, 2010 – April 25, April 18, 2010
- Crank climate science conference, April 10, 2010
- Monckton among the Mormons, March 25, 2010
- Voice of America on Rachel Carson, March 14, 2010
- For sage grouse, not a nickel’s difference between Bush and Obama, March 9, 2010
- Libertarians for junk science, February 21, 2010
- Joanne Nova can’t stand the heat, February 19, 2010
- Monckton lies over the ocean, January 28, 2010
- DDT propaganda machine, January 23, 2010
- Tonight in Iowa City! DDT and myth lecture, January 19, 2010
- Monckton’s profiteering: Climate denialists rake in the money, January 19, 2010
- Malaria, DDT, and internet myth lecture at University of Iowa, January 19, January 15, 2010
- Chris Rock: Funny, but wrong in his slam of medical science, January 1, 2010
- Climate change and DDT: Monckton’s inconvenient and inaccurate history, December 31, 2009
- Chet Raymo on devils and angels of our own creation, December 26, 2009
- The curse of “Not Evil, Just Wrong” — still evil and wrong, December 10, 2009
- Mau-mauing the gullibles, Sirkin on DDT (again), November 26, 2009
- Stealth malaria promotion in favoring DDT over brown pelicans, November 14, 2009
- Quote of the moment: DDT causing bedbug problems, Malcolm Gladwell, October 24, 2009
- “Not Evil, Just Wrong” opens to thunderous silence, October 24, 2009
- Monckton lies again (and again, and again, and again, and again . . .)! The continuing saga of a practicer of fictional science, October 18, 2009
- Monckton will lie about anything, October 10, 2009
- Nobody called for DDT to fight West Nile? September 28, 2009
- New junk science movie: “Not Evil, Just Wrong, August 16, 2009
- Straight talk: Berenbaum on DDT and malaria, August 12, 2009
- Bated breath, bated brains, bated sense and DDT, July 11, 2009
- Watts Up censors dissents on claims of climate report censorship, June 27, 2009
- For science, Bing loses badly to Google, not safe for school kids? June 24, 2009
- Wool ripped from this bloggers eyes, June 23, 2009
- Encore post: Rebutting junk Science, “100 Things to Know About DDT” point #6, June 22, 2009 (National Academy of Sciences recommendation)
- $36 million to clean up DDT mess, June 12, 2009
- Crankery under the microscope: Denialism as pathology, June 10, 2009
- Bathtub reading on a warm June Sunday, June 7, 2009
- Should the best high school students read Rachel Carson? May 31, 2009
- Bednets save lives, fighting malaria without DDT, May 25, 2009
- Heartland on bedbugs: DDT stupidity, all the way to 11, May 25, 2009
- Eradicate malaria — here’s how, May 24, 2009
- Cartoons: Bill Mauldin on DDT, May 16, 2009
- History: May 15, 1963, President’s council vindicates Rachel Carson, warns of pesticide dangers, (May 15, 2009)
- Alma conference on DDT and health calls for DDT phase-out, May 5, 2009 (Pine River Statement)
- Applying evolution theory to defeat malaria, May 3, 2009
- World Malaria Day brings out the DDT-poisoned claims — beware the ill-informed critics, April 26, 2009
- Polluted waters near your home, six-legged frogs, and you, April 19, 2009
- Rachel Carson’s critics: No shame, no morals, no brains, April 18, 2009
- DDT nutcases, April 11, 2009
- Population bombs, April 10, 2009
- Little anti-green devils, April 2, 2009
- Rachel Carson honored, explained, in new movie, March 22, 2009
- Eating DDT: Where did it get them? March 8, 2009
- National History Day film on DDT, March 8, 2009
- One more round for award-winning DDT poster – but where? February 15, 2009
- DDT ain’t pixie dust; we can’t poison Africa to health, February 7, 2009
- Suicide attempt with DDT, January 31, 2009
- I get e-mail from DDT cranks . . ., January 3, 2009
- DDT falsehoods, taken as an article of faith, December 31, 2008
- Good Interred With Their Bones Dept.: Michael Crichton, November 24, 2008
- Beating malaria without DDT, November 3, 2008
- Malaria/DDT Carnival addendum, October 11, 2008
- Carnival of Fighting Malaria (and DDT), October 8, 2008
- DDT results disappointing in Uganda, October 3, 2008
- John Stossel: Wrong again, on DDT, September 17, 2008
- An account of bioaccumulation of pesticides — dangers of DDT explained, August 14, 2008
- African nations back off of limited DDT use, August 7, 2008
- DDT poisoning spreads: Critics Kling to their favorite untruths, August 4, 2008
- Wordless Wednesday: DDT, Santa Monica, 1940s, July 16, 2008
- News from Uganda? DDT, cotton, misreporting, July 13, 2008
- Instapundit screws up again (Uganda, cotton, DDT), July 5, 2008
- USAID allows DDT use in Africa, June 25, 2008
- Mosquitoes eat DDT, and here’s how, June 18, 2008
- Friends of Rachel Carson win a quiet victory, June 13, 2008 (Congress approves naming Post Office)
- Alma conference statement pending: ‘Don’t ease DDT restrictions,’ June 11, 2008
- Meanwhile, back at the DDT manufacturing plant . . ., June 9, 2008 [India DDT plant]
From “Meanwhile, back at the DDT manufacturing plant . . .”: From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 22, Dated June 07, 2008: Toxic shock – Lakshmi Kutty lives close to the factory. She has cancer in one of her eyes, which the doctors say might be due to overexposure to DDT. Photos:AK Varun
- DDT opposition in Uganda: Business, not environmentalists, June 3, 2008
- DDT for bedbugs: Waste of mental space, May 17, 2008
- DDT blast from the past: 1951, May 16, 2008
- Business, no environmentalists, oppose DDT in Africa, May 16, 2008
- DDT linked to testicular cancers in next generation, May 2, 2008
- World malaria politics, every day, April 26, 2008
- How DDT could work in aggressive breast cancers, April 18, 2008
- Bedbugs, DDT, April 13, 2008
- Cocoa buyers stand against DDT use in Uganda, April 1, 2008
- DDT and other poisons in the Great Lakes, March 30, 2008
- Don’t look now: Businesses ask Uganda to block DDT spraying, March 27, 2008
- War on science: CDC publishes suppressed study, March 15, 2008
- A Buddhist perspective on DDT, March 13, 2008
- DDT conference: Safe or not? Who will report? March 12, 2008
- DDT and health effects on children, February 25, 2008
- Gresham’s Law: DDT disinformation crowds out facts, February 18, 2008
- Dangerous anti-science, bigoted ignorance, February 16, 2008
- Epidemiologists sign on to Alma DDT conference, February 16, 2008
- March 14, 2008 conference on ddt and health, February 1, 2008
- Uganda to start DDT use; funding delayed program start, January 19, 2008
- Uganda health ministry slows use of DDT against malaria, December 26, 2007
- Eagle recovery still on, since DDT halt, December 26, 2007
- ‘Twas DDT nearly killed the beast, December 20, 2007
- More DDT poisoning, December 20, 2007
- DDT no silver bullet; environmentalists, medical care not monsters, December 13, 2007
- How to tell if someone is wrong about DDT and Rachel Carson, December 12, 2007
- Benefits offset by infant deaths? DDT no panacea, December 10, 2007
- Peregrine falcons — ’100 things about DDT #77′, December 8, 2007
- Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute: “Don’t do this,” November 29, 2007
- DDT works! (When used carefully, in IVM, and sparingly), November 20, 2007
- Another carnival of DDT, November 18, 2007
- Praying to DDT for a miracle that DDT cannot work, November 11, 2007
- 100 things about DDT: Dissecting #10, November 8, 2007
- Michael Crichton hysterical for DDT, October 28, 2007
- Reason makes progress in malaria/DDT discussions, October 28, 2007
- Fighting malaria in Cameroon, October 23, 2007
- West Nile virus: No call for DDT, October 8, 2007
- Carnival of DDT, October 3, 2007
- Endocrine disruptors, such as DDT, September 27, 2007
- Politics and DDT, September 23, 2007
- Breastfeeding still recommended, despite DDT contamination, September 23, 2007
- West Nile 2007: DDT not needed, September 21, 2007
- DDT damages plants, too? September 20, 2007
- DDT Snake Oil Salesman of the Month of August 2007, [Steven Milloy], September 17, 2007
- River blindness “curse” lifted, September 17, 2007
- Using snake oil to lubricate jaws, September 15, 2007
- DDT as snake oil, September 15, 2007
- Rachel Carson and DDT “ban” save millions of lives, August 27, 2007
- Instapundit supports pollution, but with a smile, August 23, 2007
- How malaria is really treated, August 22, 2007
- How to fight malaria, Kenya’s example, August 17, 2007
- DDT poisoning at the Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2007
- DDT disruption of hormone activities, August 12, 2007
- [Annals of DDT] Original documents: Long history of DDT trouble, from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, August 12, 2007
- Fisking “Junk Science’s” campaign for DDT: Point #6, August 9, 2007
- Brainwashing for politics and profit: Global warming denial, August 5, 2007
- Accuracy, a good bias (DDT, again), August 4, 2007 [adventures of Jay Ambrose]
- Uganda expands controlled DDT use, July 30, 2007
- DDT out, eagles back, in Michigan Upper Peninsula, July 30, 2007
- Spreading miasma on malaria, July 23, 2007
- Collateral damage from magic bullets, July 22, 2007
- Not reading for comprehension: Glenn Reynolds, National Geographic and DDT, July 17, 2007
- Cancer and DDT: Current information, July 13, 2007
- Update: War against science and Rachel Carson, July 11, 2007
- DDT: The problems the WHO/Rachel Carson critics don’t want you to know, July 10, 2007
- Nutshell: The case against the critics of Rachel Carson, July 9, 2007
- Quote of the moment: Rachel Carson on fish kills, July 9, 2007
- Another reason why DDT damages mosquito control: Bats, July 9, 2007
- Inexplicable insanity about DDT and Rachel Carson, July 3, 2007
- Fisking “Junk Science” and “100 things you should know about DDT”: A new project, June 29, 2007 (points 17, 18 & 19)
- Cold, Clear and Deadly, June 28, 2007 (book on DDT in the Great Lakes)
- Didn’t know insanity is contagious: Sen. Tom Coburn, June 27, 2007
- Fisking “Junk Science’s” campaign for the poison DDT, against Rachel Carson, Point #8, June 27, 2007
- Rachel Carson’s honor defended, June 25, 2007 (Bug Girl comes to the defense)
- Rachel Carson’s friends chime in, June 19, 2007 (Blog post by the late “Mortart” (Mort Reichek), who knew her when)
- Setting the record straight on Rachel Carson, malaria, and DDT, June 19, 2007
- War on science: Spinning DDT, slandering the dead, May 17, 2007
- GOP War on Science victim: Rachel Carson, May 15, 2007
A “Gordo” Sunday cartoon marking the passing of Rachel Carson in 1964; by cartoonist Gus Arriola, copyright by Arriola (Fair Use) (Image via Wikipedia)
Very important articles at other sites and other sources:
- “The Deadly Dust: The Unhappy History of DDT,” Kenneth S. Davis, American Heritage, February, 1971
- “The Short-lived Miracle of DDT,” Darwin H. Stapleton, American Heritage Invention & Technology, Winter 2000, Volume 15, Issue 3
- “If malaria is the problem, DDT is not the only answer,” May Berenbaum, The Washington Post, June 5, 2005; Dr. Berenbaum is head of the department of entomology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- “Rehabilitating Carson: Why do some people continue to hold Rachel Carson responsible for millions of deaths?” John Quiggin and Tim Lambert, Prospect Magazine, May 24, 2008
- Defending Rachel Carson: The Last Word, John Quiggin, Crooked Timber, June 14, 2008
- “The Mosquito Killer,” Malcolm Gladwell profile of Fred Soper, Annals of Public Health – The New Yorker, July 2, 2001 (This article has moved behind a paywall, sadly; look around to see what you can find about it. )
- “Smoked Out,” Paul D. Thacker New Republic, February 6, 2006; story of Steven Milloy and the corporate sponsors of his various anti-science campaigns (Milloy is the proprietor of “Junk Science” weblog, which promulgates all DDT and malaria hoaxes.)
- “Original sin,” tobacco advocacy, DDT and denialism, at Rabett Run, May 27, 2007
- “Ruckelshaus, Sweeney and DDT,” Jim Easter at Some Are Boojums, August 27, 2007 (with links to the full text of Judge Edmund Sweeney’s findings from the EPA hearing on DDT).
- “Connecting the dots between Big Tobacco and DDT: Who is responsible for the campaign against Rachel Carson? Re-introducing Mr. Steve ‘Junk Science’ Milloy, Salon, May 15, 2008
- “Human Nature: 100th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s birth,” Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, May 28, 2007
- DDT, Junk Science, and Insecticide Resistance, Bug Girl Blog, June 13, 2007
- DDT, Junk Science, Malaria and the Attack on Rachel Carson, Bug Girl Blog, June 6, 2007
- Rachel Carson’s Birthday Bashing, Kirsten Weir, Salon, June 29, 2007
- Did WHO change its policy on DDT? Tim Lambert at Deltoid, September 26, 2007
- “Power in the Pen: Silent Spring in 1962,” Jack Doyle at Pop History Dig, February 22, 2012 (Yeah, there’s an article on this above; it deserves two listings)
- The Great DDT Hoax, Tim Lambert at Deltoid, February 17, 2005 (Sri Lanka facts)
- DDT use in South Africa, Tim Lambert at Deltoid, September 28, 2005
- “The Tenacious Buzz of Malaria – Humans have underestimated the disease for millennia; new research, and new worries,” Sonia Shah, Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2010
- Indur Goklany, DDT and Malaria [in Sri Lanka], Tim Lambert at Deltoid, September 15, 2010
- Rachel Carson didn’t kill millions of Africans, William Souder, Salon, September 4, 2012
- “How Silent Spring ignited the environmental movement,” Eliza Griswold, New York Times, September 21, 2012
- Zombie DDT ban myth reanimated, John Quiggin at Crooked Timber, July 14, 2014
- Hoover channels Larouche, John Quiggin at Crooked Timber, August 31, 2014 (Henry I. Miller, again)
- “DDT still killing birds in Michigan – a chemical plant turned Superfund site may be to blame,” Brian Bienkowski and Environmental Health News, Scientific American, July 28, 2014
- “DDT is still killing birds in Michigan,” Douglas Main Smithsonian Magazine’s Smithsonian.com, July 29, 2014
- “Banned pesticide DDT still killing California condors, ” John R. Platt at Extinction Countdown, a blog of Scientific American, September 20, 2013
- “How malaria defeats our drugs,” Ed Yong, Mosaic Science, March 25, 2014; important article on drug-resistant malaria in Southeast Asia
- “The DDT Collector,” Clay Cansler, Distillations, October 22, 2014
- “DDT Linked to Fourfold Increase in Breast Cancer Risk,” Lindsey Konkel, National Geographic, June 16, 2015; “DDT exposure in utero and breast cancer,” Barbara A. Cohn, et al., JCEM (Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism), August 1, 2015 (J Clin Endocrinol Metab (2015) 100 (8): 2865-2872. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2015-1841)
- “Rachel Carson’s Critics Keep On, But She Told Truth About DDT,” Richard Conniff, Yale 360, September 1, 2015
- “Sorry, Right-Wing Hacks: Zika’s No Reason for a DDT Comeback, Richard Conniff, Strange Behaviors, September 9, 2016
- “Zika virus, microcephaly, and calls to bring back DDT,” David Gorski, Science Based Medicine, February 15, 2016
- “No, DDT won’t save us from the Zika virus,” Orac, Respectul Insolence, February 22, 2016
- “Rachel Carson, ‘mass murderer’? A right-wing myth about ‘Silent Spring’ is poised for a revival,” Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, February 6, 2017
- “Beyond Silent Spring: An alternate history of DDT,” Elena Conis, Distillations, February 14, 2017
- “Double disaster for science and public health (Updated),” Dr. John Quiggin, Crooked Timer, February 16, 2017
- DDT, the situation today, by Joe Ballenger, Ask an Entomologist, April 25, 2107
Official, original documents:
- Nota Bene: Mrak Commission report citation needed; one of the key reports available to EPA was from the Mrak Commission, headed by Dr. Emeril Mrak, delivered to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) in late 1969; the commission recommended immediate study of carcinogenicity and teratogenicity of 19 pesticides, including DDT; the commission also recommended cessation of DDT use within two years; do you know an online source of the report? Mentioned: “The Persistent Problem of the Persistent Pesticides: A Lesson in Environmental Law,” William H. Rodgers, Jr., Columbia Law Review, Vol. 70, No. 4 (Apr., 1970), pp. 567-611
Update: Full text .pdf of the Mrak Commission Report Volumes I and II, is available here. - Environmental Defense Fund v. Finch (or, “U.S. Department of HEW), 428 F.2d 1083 (1970); Judge J. Skelly Wright ordered HEW to consider scientific evidence to determine whether DDT residues in food are safe
- Environmental Defense Fund v. Hardin (Secretary of Agriculture), 428 F.2d 1093 (1970); DC Circuit Court remanded lower court decision that U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to leave DDT on the market cannot be reviewed by the courts, as not yet a final decision
- Report of the DDT Advisory Committee to William D. Ruckelshaus, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency, September 9, 1971 (Hilton Commission Report); Commission recommended DDT use be reduced to elimination, except DDT be kept available for use in fighting diseases carried by insect vectors such as mosquitoes carry malaria (or try this TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/jcqgdnx)
- Environmental Defense Fund v. Ruckelshaus, 439 F.2d 584 (1971); case in which Judge David L. Bazelon ordered EPA to rully review the registration of DDT as a pesticide, under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)
- Welford v. Ruckelshaus, 439 F. 2d 598 (1971); Judge Bazelon ordered EPA to act against 2,4,5-T, also
- Hearing Examiners Recommended Findings, Conclusions, and Orders, April 25, 1972 (PDF); this is the report and order issued by EPA Administrative Law Judge Edmund Sweeney, following several months of hearings on the legality of the labeling of DDT; while it was formerly available at EPA’s website, I can now find only the Easter Codex version, scanned and published by Jim Easter; 173 pages. Frequently mis-cited by hoaxsters as “40 CFR 164.32”; I have never found the formal citation (anyone know what it is?)
- Federal Register, Vol. 37, No. 131-Friday, July 7, 1972: June 30 1972 Opinion and Order of Administrator Ruckelshaus Concerning the Registrations of Products Concerning DDT; note the order begins on page 13375, and note the last full paragraph on that page, which lifts the ban on DDT use to fight disease; Ruckelshaus specifically carved out a “no ban” area to fight malaria, everywhere
- Environmental Defense Fund vs. Ruckelshaus, 465 F.2d 528 (D.C. Cir. 1972); D.C. Circuit Court applies lessons learned from the DDT cases in litigation over pesticide registrations for dieldrin and aldrin, with some direct discussion of DDT results
- EDF vs. EPA and William Ruckelshaus, 489 F.2d 1247 (D.C. Cir. 1973); decision in the consolidated cases challenging EPA’s 1971 regulation of DDT; Judge Malcolm R. Wilkey decision found EPA had substantial and sufficient science foundation for the rule (directly contrary to claims by DDT advocacy groups)
- Public Health Statement for DDT, DDD and DDE, CDC Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry
- Full text of the Persistent Organic Pesticides Treaty (POPs), the Stockholm Convention, which “bans” DDT, but allows it to be used to fight malaria (see Annex B)
- Stockholm Convention home page
- World Health Assembly Resolution 60.18, 2007, calling for a World Malaria Day, and recommending methods to defeat malaria
Indexing: Rachel Was Right, #DDT, #Malaria, #RachelCarson, Junk Science, World Health Organization, WHO, Environmentalism
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
[…] Facebook timeline, offering me multiple links to his blog articles on the subject of Rachel Carson, DDT and […]
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An article explaining issues of insecticide resistance in the fight against malaria.
“After 40 years, the most important weapon against mosquitoes may be failing,” Kai Kupferschmidt, Science, Oct. 13, 2016.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/10/after-40-years-most-important-weapon-against-mosquitoes-may-be-failing
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Be sure to note that malaria was beaten 90% before DDT was “invented.”
https://twitter.com/EdDarrell/status/705428610354536448?s=20
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[…] From the promising start of claiming we must be skeptical and carefully sort out what is true from what is not true, he rapidly plunges from the stratosphere into the depths of the ocean of misinformation. Count the errors: […]
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No, this isn’t Dr. Lynn Koslowski’s piece in HuffPo — but there’s probably better science information here (though, not so much against smoking).
Don’t tell ’em about the mislink. I can use the the traffic. Their anti-DDT rants can use the exposing.
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[…] of why e-cigarettes should be allowed, indeed encouraged, for addicted smokers, see renowned expert Prof. Lynn Kozlowski’s piece in this week’s Huffington Post, 9 Things to Think About When Thinking About […]
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[…] DDT chronicles at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub – 145 reasons to ban DDT […]
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[…] DDT chronicles at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub […]
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