Pestilence, Lies and Distortions

This story is truly heartbreaking, but it must be told. In this single story we see a combination of a growing "pestilence" problem, but unfortunately this one could be largely preventable. The usual lies and distortions that we have become so accustomed to prevent that from happening:

Greens lie, Africans Die

The intro to this is important to both read and understand - not to mention the REALITY of the situation, as opposed to the lies and distortions which have led to this tragedy.

Fina’s little body shook for hours with teeth-chattering chills. The next day her torment worsened, as nausea and vomiting continued even after there was nothing left in her stomach. Finally, her vomiting ebbed and chills turned to fever, drenching her body in sweat. Then more chills, fevers, nausea, convulsions, and constant, unbearable pain in every muscle, bone and joint.

She cried out, and tears mixed with sweat. But no one could help her. She had no money for doctors, medicines or a hospital room. She didn’t even have a mother or father to comfort her. All the orphanage school staff could do was caress her, pray and hope she’d get better – and wait for her to die.

And in agony that never stopped from the time the malaria first struck her down, Fina Nantume did die. So did 49 of her classmates, out of 500 students in the APEA Primary School for orphans in Kampala, Uganda, in 2005. Most of the survivors were also afflicted with malaria at least once that year. Some became permanently brain damaged. Others died in subsequent years.

The information above represents the reality of the situation. So why is this happening?

Fina didn’t have to die. None of these spirited, beautiful young students had to die. None of them had to get malaria. The disease is preventable, treatable and curable

Then why did they? Why does half the world’s population remain at risk of getting malaria? Why are some 250 million people infected annually – with 90% of the agonizing chills, fevers, nausea, brain damage and death occurring in sub-Saharan Africa?

A disease whose prevention is hampered, and actively thwarted, by pervasive opposition to mosquito-killing insecticides, and mosquito-repelling DDT.

Anti-pesticide activists say they support other interventions: education, “capacity building,” modern drugs and bednets.

So the usual "activists" have successfully banned the obvious "fix", DDT, in favor of the above. So how is this working out?

But the lies and obstruction are prevalent, and effective. Here are just a few of the most egregious.

Being the "fact based" nut that I am, lets look at the f-a-c-t-s. Something the MSM and the activists loathe.

1. Lies and obstruction: “Nets are just as good as insecticides”

“Nets are just as good as insecticides.” Prevention should always be the first line of defense. That’s why we chlorinate drinking water and vaccinate people against measles, mumps, polio and flu. Insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) certainly help and should be used. But they are a supplement to, not a substitute for, larvacides, insecticides and DDT that kill mosquitoes and keep them away from people.

Indoor residual spraying (IRS) eliminates behavior as a consideration; it protects everyone in the house, 24 hours a day.

2. Lies and obstruction: “Mosquitoes will become resistant to DDT”

This is highly unlikely. DDT use today is restricted to disease prevention, whereas pyrethroids are used extensively in agriculture and ITNs, greatly increasing the risk of resistance to these DDT “alternatives.” Once that happens both non-DDT indoor spraying and bednets will become far less effective, and malaria rates could skyrocket

In addition, there is no evidence that mosquitoes have ever become resistant to DDT’s repellency and irritation effects.

3. Lies and obstruction: “DDT has dangerous side effects”

Greenpeace, Pesticide Action Network, Environmental Defense, International POPs Elimination Network and affiliated radical groups love to say “some researchers think” DDT and its break-down byproduct DDE “could” inhibit lactation, “may” weaken immune systems and are “associated with” low birth weights in babies.

Not only is this rank speculation, but malaria definitely has all these side effects; it also causes severe brain damage, an inability to work for weeks on end, and agonizing death.

4. Lies and obstruction: “DDT will poison the global biosphere”

Anti-pesticide zealots claim even indoor spraying with DDT will “contaminate” soils and waters for decades and “damage entire regional environmental systems.” Baloney. IRS involves small amounts of DDT on walls. The chemical and its derivatives break down. Detection does not equal destruction. Our ability to detect chemicals at the equivalent of one second in 32 years does not equate with damage to any organism, and certainly not to entire ecosystems.

So there you have it. Once again, ill-informed "activists" insert themselves into a situation and proceed to make it worse, far far worse, and as a result, scores of people are dying horrible deaths. But hey, they saved the world from DDT. Congratulations.

There is no magic bullet. We need every weapon in our arsenal to control and eradicate this vicious disease. DDT and insecticides aren’t necessary or appropriate in every case – but when needed health officials must be able to employ them, without recrimination or retribution.

The “net” effect of these bald-faced lies is that anti-pesticide zealots are perpetuating poverty, misery, disease and death in malaria-endemic regions all over the world.

That quote deserves to be repeated over and over again because it represents the bottom line:

The “net” effect of these bald-faced lies is that anti-pesticide zealots are perpetuating poverty, misery, disease and death in malaria-endemic regions all over the world

And this:

Safe in offices made malaria-free by the very chemicals, technologies and prosperity they deny to others, these baby killers and their financial benefactors are violating the most basic human rights of people in poor nations: the right of access to technologies that enhance and safeguard life.

Their reign of terror must end, before they usher in a disaster of truly epidemic proportions.

I have to make an admission. As a physician who served on a task force regarding the malaria problem in Africa, I know first hand how ridiculous the notion was of banning DDT in this part of the world. And I, for one, have zero tolerance for seeing humans suffer and die unnecessarily - all based on lies and distortions from our so-called activists. I could rant more but I better stop while I'm ahead.

There is enough human suffering on this world which isn't preventable. But to see these poor people having to experience the loss of life, pain and suffering all because of ill-informed activists inserting themselves into the situation is more than I can bear.

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OH, and while we're at it. Have you read about the growing problem with the "Bed Bug Epidemic"? Any interest in why we are seeing this reemerge after a half-century? You guessed it. The US banning of DDT is solely responsible for this unnecessary pain and suffering as well:

A Needless, Nationwide Bed Bug Epidemic

There really is no mystery to solving the nationwide bed bug epidemic. In 1946 the solution was DDT. Today the solution could still be DDT if it hadn’t been banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in the 1970s and, since then, any number of other beneficial pesticides.

The problem isn’t so much the bed bugs as the brainwashing of Americans to believe that pesticides are worse than the pests.

One of the reasons Americans live in an essentially pest-free environment in their homes, offices, restaurants, hotels, and elsewhere is the widespread use of pesticides, despite decades of effort by environmental organizations to spread and maintain an irrational fear of pesticides.

In the years following World War Two, the pest control industry had eliminated bed bugs to a point where today’s generation of pest control professionals literally had no experience dealing with them when they began to reappear in American homes, hotels, and other structures.

What is the Environmental Protection Agency’s answer? It is to hold bed bug “summits” in which industry and other experts testify to the obvious necessity to authorize the use of existing pesticides and expedite the registration of new formulations to rid the nation of this pest.

Today there is only one pesticide, Propoxur, known to effectively knock down a bed bug infestation, but when Ohio pest control professionals asked the Environmental Protection Agency for permission to use it, it was denied.

In December, Forbes magazine had an article, “America’s Most Bed Bug-Infested Cities.” Is it any surprise that three of Ohio’s cities, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton, were identified as the most infested?

Among the other cities cited as suffering major bed bug infestations were New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.

The bed bug epidemic owes more to governmental regulation than to the experience and expertise of pest control professionals, all of whom must be licensed and certified by their respective States. Given the pesticides to address the epidemic, the industry could eliminate it.

It is shameful that America has to endure this epidemic, not just in terms of the physical harm that people encounter from it, but because it is entirely preventable.

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OK, back to malaria.

I'll close with this quote from the article:

It’s said malaria is a disease of poverty, and poor countries don’t have enough funds, doctors or medicines to treat the disease – or prevent it in the first place. True enough.
But malaria is also, and much more so, a disease of callous, intransigent environmental extremism and wanton disregard for human life.

If this offends anyone, I am truly sorry for that - but I am a stickler for the truth. I also passionately hate seeing unnecessary pain and suffering on this planet. And this situation most certainly represents the creation of unnecessary pain and suffering.

It might be a good time to say a prayer for these Africans. Unfortunately, there appears to be no end in sight.