Interesting Article:

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110506/LIVEWELL01/705079929/1161

The most dangerous creature is the mosquito, killing about a million people a year worldwide by infecting them with malaria. In the US, where malaria has been eliminated, over five people a year die from contracting the disease elsewhere. About two people a year die in the US from rattlesnake bites.

He doesn't mention bees. I have heard that the annual toll from honey bees, due to anaphylactic shock, is around 50 people in the US. That's more than the toll from all the tiggers, bares, and lyons.

Because the use of DDT was outlawed based on flawed data, the mosquito threat remains. Of course "everyone" now knows DDT is bad and no efforts are being made to allow use.

I guess a million people a year is not too much of a price to pay so that the tree huggers can be appeased. Let's see, a million a year, starting back in the 60s-- do the math.

It is well that the author carefully notes that he is dealing with the most deadly non-human creature. We should be sensitive about retaining the most-deadly crown.

Pesky little things are out and about here now, and seem to have all their allies with them. The warnings for West Nile virus haven't started yet though. Public Health must be swiching to a reactive approach this year.

it's the small stuff that gets you..a sharp stick in the eye of the attacking bear will provide you with dinner and a bear skin blanket but that bug that bit you in your sleep and you done for..

> "Because the use of DDT was outlawed based on flawed data, the mosquito threat remains."

Hardly!

Over 650,000 tons of DDT were spread over America in a period of 22 years (up to 40,000 tons per year), and we still have mosquitoes, don't we?

DDT continued to be produced in other places outside the U.S. for years after the U.S. ban. It continues to be produced in India, who is the main user of its own product, and India still has somewhere around 90 MILLION cases of malaria per year.

If it's so effective, what's the problem there?

Despite my ADD, I am able to wrap my head around the terms "food chain" and "persistent organic pollutant".

It has been found in the umbilical cord serum of babies at birth. How do you think it got there? I doubt Mum was spooning it into her afternoon tea.

Farmers, esp, are often the worst offenders: they want quick, easy and cheap solutions and often dive into them without educating themselves to the long-term effects. They also tend to think that if a little is good, a lot more is even better.

America, land of the knee-jerk reaction and short-term thinking, totally incapable of adding up the long-term costs and effects. Whoopee.

Sue

It's hard to beat a swarm of really hungry mosquito's. I'm sure nearly everyone here has suffered - and truth is I've been pretty lucky. I haven't even been near the clouds of blood sucking giants that exist up in Alaska and Canada :-)

I put 100% DEET (aka jungle juice) on the sleeves on my shirt, around the collar, and around the edges of my hat (which I always wear in mosquito country). Seems to have worked pretty well, and you don't need to get it on your skin.

In Africa, the mosquito's that carry malaria come during the night. Sometimes they start getting active as soon as the sun goes down, and sometimes not until 8-9 pm. Just depends of where you are. But either way ... the DEET, long-sleeve shirts and trousers, and a standard anti-malarial work pretty well.

Pete #2

The whole story about "treehuggers banning DDT and letting millions die" is a false. I would say myth but it has been exposed and shown to be false so well and so often that it isn't even a question any more.

Fact is that DDT was losing ground as insects were becoming immune to it. The banning for routine crop use, and blatant overuse, saved DDT as a useful insecticide by limiting exposure of insects to it in sub-lethal doses. It is still made and used but every year it loses more ground because tolerance in insects keeps going up. Malathion, and other insecticides have take up the slack. The difference being that those alternatives are less persistent and less toxic to non-target species.

I don't know about them mosquitos. But ever since seeing Jaws in the theater back in '75 I hesitate going more than ankle deep in the ocean. Those Great Whites are everywhere!

Along those same lines, I haven't set foot on a spaceship since seeing Alien in '79 either. No siree!

There is currently no international law that bans the use of DDT for uses such a combating mosquito-borne diseases. If DDT was such a silver bullet, these countries afflicted will millions of cases of malaria every year should be using it whole hog. But they aren't. It makes one wonder why.

This article is a good intro into the complexity of malaria eradication, including DDT's possible role in it.