WorldNetDaily is just asking, in an anonymously written Aug. 8 article headlined “Is Zika a sign it’s time, again, for DDT?” It includes the usual bias: that DDT isn’t harmful to humans, that Rachel Carson falsely “convinced the public that DDT represented a threat to bald eagles,” that Jane Orient of the far-right Association of American Physicians and Surgeons says to bring it back.
What you won’t see, however, is the main reason not to bring it back: that, as we’ve documented, most mosquitoes are immune to DDT’s effects due to past overuse and, thus, it wouldn’t be effective.
That’s one reason the WND reporter may have decided to remain anonymous. Another one: he or she stole a quote she didn’t cite. That would be this:
“It’s a difficult question, and it’s a very controversial question,” says Jonathan Chevrier, an assistant professor at McGill University, of how policymakers weigh the use of DDT to protect public health. “What the Zika virus is potentially doing is terrible. But using any pesticide needs to be considered very, very carefully.”
That’s actually from a Time magazine article, but the article does not credit Time. That article also notes another reason not to use DDT: The current way it is mostly used — on the walls of indoor dwellings, mostly in Africa — may not be effective in other application methods or for the specific type of Zika-carrying mosquito (in addition to the resistance factor).
The anonymous WND article also quotes the Jillian Kay Melchior of the right-wing Independent Women’s Forum asserting that DDT is “reasonably safe” and that Rachel Carson peddled “junk science.”
But as the Time article also notes: “Research has suggested that DDT has the potential to disrupt the human nervous system in the same way it does to insects. That may mean cancer, infertility and other long-term health effects including developmental problems in young children. DDT remains in the environment where it’s sprayed for years, potentially affecting multiple generations.”
So WND wants to bring back a chemical for political reasons, a chemical whose full effects are still not completely known. We’re not surprised.