Friday, December 17, 2004

The return of DDT

Continuing the "Environmentalists on the run" meme, Junkscience.com has a couple of stories about the reemergence of DDT as an insecticide in Africa.

Zimbabwe's pariah status seems to be having at least one good effect. allAfrica.com reports:
THE government has re-introduced the once banned DDT for its indoor residual
spray (IRS) programme to control malaria countrywide because it cannot access
foreign currency to buy other effective drugs

However the EU is causing problems over its reintroduction in Uganda. TCS reports:
If Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback is correct, European scaremongering is delaying the
re-introduction of DDT into Uganda.

If the desperate situation in Zimbabwe leads to Africans overcoming the DDT ban imposed by the west then a lot of lives will be saved. A lot of lives.