I know I’m close to sounding like a broken record, but I am forced to continue my screed…When lawmakers go after a particular issue, they wear blinders. They simply don’t look at what reaction their actions will cause. I cite two examples.
First: Research on small, “fuel efficient” cars. You can read here about the study that shows that smaller cars, which may be more fuel efficient, also will cause many additional traffic deaths each year. These so called “café” standards are blamed for an additional 2,000 deaths each year. As metal is takes out of cars, the protection for the folks in the cars is also reduced. You can read the study here, where they put larger cars vs smaller cars made by the same manufacturer. This is scary stuff.
Second, let’s go back in history. In 1962 Rachael Carlson was hailed as the savior of mankind by taking on the chemical industry and most particularly, the insecticide DDT. Truthfully it caused problems. Sprayed in large amounts on crops it got in the food chain and animals and people could be affected. Carlson took such a strong stance against the chemical that it was basically banned world wide for over 40 years. Industry studies showed that limited amounts of DDT were still extremely effective against mosquitoes, particularly the little devils that carry malaria. Malaria kills about one million people a year in Africa, 800,000 of whom are children. Some have said that over the years, more than 50,000,000 people have died unnecessarily because of the ban. The facts are in the middle. Overuse causes some mosquitoes to become resistant, however it is still extremely effective in some applications. Rachael Carlson’s campaign completely stopped DDT. How many died because of it is not knowable, but in some cases, taking the most extreme position can be fatal.
JVH
2 Responses
As the old saying goes; “Results are what you expect, and consequences are what you get.”
DDT has never been banned in countries where malaria is a problem. Until 2001 there was no law to cover most of Africa or Asia — and that treaty has a special exemption for DDT.
DDT use was stopped where it was ineffective. In some limited uses, it can be effective again in some places where it was stopped — but it’s no panacea by any means. Anyone who argues a ban on DDT caused any death doesn’t know much about mosquitoes, malaria, medicine, DDT, the law, or history.