A pollutant so violently deadly to the natural environment cannot, in the end, be dismissed as benign to human animal. If only as a precaution against a terrible future outcome, we should consider human and environmental interests to be the same. Sprayed on walls, DDT works by killing mosquitoes on contact. But there are alternatives, different chemicals, and different spray technologies that apply chemicals with better effect at lower quantities. In Africa, success has been achieved in some communities by dipping bednets in pyrethroids low-cost alternative in some cases, but one that needs active community involvement.
Drugs work against malaria by killing the parasite in the human host and by creating immunity.
But again, protozoa soon breed generations resistant to each new drug that comes along. And each new drug tends to carry a higher price than the one before. Environmental responses to the malaria challenge have hardly been explored yet, but hold great promise. Easily propagated, harmless to humans and livestock, naturally occurring, but it is altogether environment-friendly except to mosquitoes. Researchers in Peru have developed a Bti kit for village distribution.