Malaria, Africa and DDT
I had the chance to visit Africa in 2003 when I went to Botswana on a Habitat for Humanity project. As such, when Africa is in the news, I usually perk up.
Thus, today I saw this item about Malaria over at Instapundit where he links
TCS and the mistake of banishing DDT and Insta also links Postrel who is citing
NYTimes.
Bottom line: malaria kills lots of people in Africa, DDT kills mosquitos, people are afraid of DTT ... connect the dots ... Postel writes:
Two million people a year, most of them little kids, are dying because of the West's anti-DDT superstition. Two...million...people...a...year.Postrel writes more here by citing CNBC Hardball's Chris Matthew's experience with Malaria.
Anti-DDT taboos undoubtedly kill even more than that, since the debilitation caused by malaria helps keep Africa desperately poor. But, hey, they're Africans. We got rid of malaria here, so we don't give a damn. I bet the NYT Mag gets letters from people outraged at Rosenberg's audacity in pointing out the problem.
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