zxcvbob wrote:
James wrote:

Is DDT more harmful than useful?

DDT would be great for eradicating malaria. IMHO, malaria is the reason
Africa is a backwards continent that never will amount to much. If they
could beat malaria, Africa could join the 20th century -- or maybe even
the 21st. g

There was an article in either Discovery or Scientific American a
couple of months ago about malaria. One of its points is the
harmfullness of DDT is from the large quantities used in
agriculture. Much smaller amounts would need to be used
against malaria carrying mosquito so the amount of problem
generated would be much smaller than the amount of benefit
generated.

DDT is relatively non-toxic to humans, and it doesn't take much to spray
the inside walls of houses to kill the mosquitoes.

So long as that success doesn't tempt massive use in
agriculture.

Developed countries that have already beaten malaria can get by without
DDT. We tend to use way too much pesticides in general.