While wealthy countries like the U.S. can afford such insecticides, the destitute nations that compose malaria's killing fields lack that luxury. Second, there is no need to drop DDT from crop dusters on acres of farms, as Americans once did. Instead, small amounts of DDT applied in dwellings and indoor gathering areas will suffice. Nations permitted to use DDT must keep records and file reports on its deployment. In a museum-grade example of this mindset, the Environmental Defense Fund's former chief scientist, Dr. Charles Wurster, once was asked if he worried that banning DDT in Sri Lanka might unleash a malaria epidemic.
People are the cause of all the problems.
We have too many of them. It should encourage America's allies to allow poor countries greater access to DDT so they can put malaria behind them and move on. Va. E-mail this story to a friend. Format this story for printing. Send an electronic postcard to somebody you know.