Pete Clarke Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi Kennuchelover,
>
>
> The effects of breakdown products are studied, and
> in a great deal of detail. The environmental fate
> of pesticides is now part of the data that needs
> to be supplied in order to obtain a license for
> the product, at least in the UK.
???? Not in the U.S., at least not that I've heard of with respect to 2nd generation or permutation breakdown products. And a recently published book reinforced this claim. So maybe the UK is acting smarter than the US in this respect?
> With regard to the other methods of mosquito
> control - Bt wasn't an option at the time,
Agreed, too poorly known.
> fish
> are great but much of the problem doesn't occur in
> lakes and marshes but in small water traps -
> gutters, old tires, old pots, you name it, mossies
> will breed in it.
No, gambusia aren't a 100% cure-all, but they will make significant reductions in the mosquito population, which in turn lowers the chances of disease transmission to humans.
> Mosquito netting evidently
> failed to stop millions of people developing the
> disease.
Mosquito netting wasn't USED by millions of people who developed the disease. Netting was costly & used mostly by "rich" (all things being relative) Westerners, rather than by impoverished 3rd World locals.
> The world wide use of DDT wasn't about arrogance,
> except in terms of the fact that the people
> involved genuinely thought they could wipe out a
> disease that kills millions every year.
......by using a poorly studied toxic compound, and trying to essentially wipe out several insect species that transmitted the disease.
Hmmmm, thinking that "science" would be a cureall, that Western Civilization's might & power could solve problems very simply, that it was O.K. to spray the world with chemicals without having tested their effects well enough....
Yup, I'd call that arrogance.
> They were
> certainly naiive but well intentioned. Of course,
> we all know what the road to hell was paved
> with...
>
> Pete
Oh, I've never claimed that they had bad intentions. Even the chemical companies never MEANT to hurt anybody with DDT, that I know of. It was ignorance & arrogance, pure and simple.
Kenuchelover.
> History is not a science; it is a method.
> Charles Seignobos
