"Silent Spring" by Rachael Carson did in DDT. DDT killed mosquitoes and kept malaria in check. Now, even though the WHO has deemed DDT to be safe, the enviro whackos think it's better to save a couple of birds rather than people. As a consequence millions of PEOPLE die every year from malaria. Nets don't work; DDT does.

reformcanada, that's a really uninformed opinion. Carson argued against agricultural spraying of DDT, but was in favor of its continued use for anti-malarial purposes. The overspraying of DDT that she argued against led to resistant populations of mosquitoes that could not be controled by most anti-malarial programs. The issue is a lot more complicated that you think; I suggest you learn a bit more about it.

"In 2006 WHO came out in favor of using DDT to control the spread of malaria. That sent alarm bells ringing among environmentalists who fear such high-level approval will lead to widespread illegal use and abuse of DDT." The statement above shows the lack of evidence for or against DDT. Environmentalists push their agenda at any cost. Remember acid rain? Where did that go? Ozone disappearing? Not in the news today as the biggest contributor to the hole was a volcano in Antarctica that is not as active as before. Global warming is the next scare... Why believe them? The mosquitoes were controlled in the 50's by DDT, keep it out of agriculture and pin point its use. All in moderation. Don't believe all that the environmentalists spew as fact. As an example, no one can prove global warming either.

The fact remains that DDT has never been banned for anti-malarial use in a country that has a malaria problem. So reformcanada's statement that "millions of people die every year from malaria" because DDT is banned couldn't be further from the truth. I noticed that your statement says absolutely nothing about populations of DDT-resistant mosquitos. Since you are apparently unfamiliar with the concept, from Wikipedia: "The evolution of resistance to DDT in mosquitos has greatly reduced its effectiveness in many parts of the world, and current WHO guidelines require that before the chemical is used in an area, susceptibility of local mosquitos to DDT must be confirmed.[82] The appearance of DDT-resistance is largely due to its use in agriculture, where it was used in much greater amounts than the relatively small quantities used for disease prevention."

The discussion here isn't so much of the malaria as first posted by reformcanada. Looks to me that the issue is as reformcanada calls it,? the enviro wackos", which I tend to agree with. Are the countries spraying DDT to control the Mosquitoes now? Are the environmentalists still trying to block its use? Interesting that the USA doesn't have this problem any longer. Wonder why that is... One last note. Bed bugs are on the climb in the United States. They were wiped out with the use of DDT.

You can rant about "enviro wackos" all you want, but you can't address the basic fact that overspraying of DDT for agricultural purposes has led to the creation of populations of DDT-resistant mosquitos that cannot be controlled(in addition to the other harm throughout the ecosystem described by Rachel Carson). Yes, DDT is still used by many countries to control malaria, but more and more of them are finding it ineffective because of past agricultural overspraying. That is a fact. All of the name-calling in the world can't change the fact that none of the data backs up your position.

Kev... You sound angry. Reformcanada and I are entitled to our opinions. When it comes to the environmentalists, they are way too liberal for my taste. Just because you state that something is fact doesn't mean it is. No proof has been given of harm to the ecosystem, I'm talking concrete evidence. It?s the same with everything else including global warming... Give the concrete evidence before claiming it to be fact. By the way, DDT resistant mosquitoes show me to the documented tests on that one. Maybe I'll believe and finally trust in the EPA. Until then, you have your opinion and I have mine.

You are entitled to your own opinions, but you aren't entitled to your own facts. Do a Google search for "ddt resistant mosquitoes", and you'll get 206,000 hits. Surely one of those links will convince you that that phenomenon is real. This site (http://membracid.wordpress.com/2007/06/13/ddt-malaria-insecticide-resistance/) has a really good post, in layman's terms, with citations, that you should be able to follow. The effects of overspraying DDT on ecosystems is well-documented by independent scientific research and "documented tests". Just because you haven't looked for it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. You clearly don't have an understanding of this topic outside of what you have heard on Fox News, so taking a few minutes to educate yourself might change your opinions.