One of the claassic D.C. quotes quipped about “a billion here and a billion there.” It referred to money. We aren’t supposed to be so cavalier when we’re talking about a million here and a million there and we mean human lives.
But that was the way The Washington Post treated the 100th birthday story of environmentalist “icon” Rachel Carson. Carson wrote the book “Silent Spring” and set in motion the banning of DDT that cost millions of lives needlessly.
The Post celebrated Carson’s birthday by barely mentioning that her actions “have remained controversial” and ignoring that the World Health Organization now embraces using DDT.
All readers got was a pro-Carson press release filled with people who wrote about her and people who work for organizations named after her. One conservative critic was given 78 words to remind readers “people are dying of malaria that don't need to die’ because of bans on DDT.”
Ironically, Mark H. Lytle, a Bard College professor who wrote about Carson, said her book had “an impact on Gore’s audience as well.” According to Lytle, “this,” meaning climate change, is “‘Silent Spring’ all over again.”
Hopefully, that means climate change hype will all turn out to be bogus, but it won’t cost millions of lives in the process.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Who is the greatest mass murd
May 18, 2007 - 13:09 ET by jdhawkWho is the greatest mass murderer of all time?
a. Mao
b. Rachel Carson
c. Stalin
d. Hitler
Once you have the answer, rank the mass murderes from most mass murdered to least mass murdered.
Send to your local newspaper upon the "celebration" of Rachel's birthday.
If you combine Sanger with
May 18, 2007 - 13:27 ET by The Wicked ConservativeIf you combine Sanger with Carson, then American liberalism would be the clear winner.
Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. Talk sense to a
liberal and he calls you a racist, sexist, biggot, homophobe, denier.
I wouldn't pick Carson. Lef
May 18, 2007 - 13:40 ET by Carl KolchakI wouldn't pick Carson. Left wingers like Rosie like to attack and label others that she doesn't agree with politically, and I think you could make a case for either a, c, or d based on how you looked at the numbers. I don't think Carson purposely was killing people like the other three. The other three picked out those who didn't fit their ideal world and proceeded to get rid of them. I don't think she qualifies as a mass murderer.
"There's blood in the streets it's up to my ankles" 'Peace Frog'
hmm
May 18, 2007 - 13:57 ET by Iconoclast421____ wingers like ___ like to attack and label others that ___ doesn't agree with politically
fun fun fun, fill in the blanks
Yeah I know what you mean, le
May 18, 2007 - 14:06 ET by Carl KolchakYeah I know what you mean, left wingers never call anyone Nazi's or overuse comparisons to the Third Reich. I don't think Rosie and her cohosts have ever used Nazi comparisons now have they? And do you think they are really experts on Third Reich History? I think we saw someone on NB the other day acting like they were an expert on Third Reich History responding to bigtimer.
"I've always been crazy, but it's kept me from going insane" Waylon Jennings
Does Adolph Hitler have a bri
May 18, 2007 - 13:42 ET by Roger the ShrubberDoes Adolph Hitler have a bridge named after him? Carson does. In Pittsburgh, she is treated like a hometown hero. The local news dares not muddy up their all-important pothole updates and gas price watches with silly news like this.
To all concerned here at Newsbusters
May 18, 2007 - 19:03 ET by halfmanhalfamazingThanks for the good work! Keep it up! Beating back the liberal media's propaganda. But I do have one problem here.
This NB posting as well as the B&M link do not contain the link to the WaPo's article.
http://www.washingto...
Hopefully, in future NB postings this small issue will be resolved.
Thanks.
Sorry, but as a child I saw w
May 18, 2007 - 13:33 ET by buddycSorry, but as a child I saw what DDT did and the effect of banning it. It should be banned.
I guess I could be convinced otherwise if shown that lots of people die because DDT is not used to control misquitos and milaria but I am not convinced there are not other ways to deal with it.
Just following its path up the food chain is scarry. As I recall it was starting to appear in humans. I used it once to kill some insects. It killed them in a nano second. Its strength scarred me.
It should appear, at least
May 18, 2007 - 13:45 ET by sarcasmoIt should appear, at least a bit, in humans. For one thing, every Jew who managed to survive the Holocaust was "deloused" with DDT by Allied forces. It's overused when governments like Florida's give it away (which happened) at Miami International Airport, causing people not to care about the monetary costs (to other taxpayers) of overuse, which led to environmental costs that have since become famous like thinning of bald eagles' eggs. The story of DDT, like the story of secondhand tobacco smoke, has not been well-covered by the media, and I know that simply because people keep having to learn that Holocaust-human-test (on subjects who weren't in exactly-great shape -- recall the photos of their starvation?) from the likes of me rather than the "real" news media.
JMR
One of the creators of DDT
May 18, 2007 - 13:48 ET by The Wicked ConservativeOne of the creators of DDT that used to talk about it in all the post Carson hysteria used to drink a teaspoon of the stuff at each event he spoke at to show how harmless it was to humans. As for people dying from the lack of use
of DDT. It's around a million a year dying from malaria in Africa.
I've never heard of it harming a human. I'd like to read the article if it's out there. I'm not a DDT expert.
Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. Talk sense to a
liberal and he calls you a racist, sexist, biggot, homophobe, denier.
It's all about doses, just
May 18, 2007 - 13:56 ET by sarcasmoIt's all about doses, just as with other chemicals, even things as "safe" as water. I've read that very-low doses of DDT actually *thicken* birds' eggshells even though larger doses obviously act to thin shells by mimicing female hormones. I've gotten Monsanto's excellent root-hormone herbicide "RoundUp" all over my skin and in my eyes in the form of a dilute mist blowing back at me in the wind, and while it was quite unpleasant and I'm not volunteering to do it again, there seem to be no permanent nasty effects.
JMR
As a kid on Long Island, in t
May 18, 2007 - 16:55 ET by 10thAmendmentAs a kid on Long Island, in the late fifties and early sixties, the county used to send around Jeeps with foggers on them to spray entire neighborhoods to keep down mosquitos and gypsy moths. We used to chase after the Fogging Jeep to play in the clouds of misted DDT.
My brothers and I are still quite healthy.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
10thAmend...Oh oh, you should
May 18, 2007 - 17:01 ET by Clear thinker10thAmend...
Oh oh, you should not have posted that story. The libs will now come here and call you a neo-con and that would be their proof that you have been damaged by the fog.
;-)
The liberal MSM has become an enemy of the USA.
Trial-lawyers and leftist EPA
May 18, 2007 - 17:07 ET by bigtimerTrial-lawyers and leftist EPA workers will be wanting to test him immediately!
I'm only a bit younger, but
May 18, 2007 - 17:11 ET by sarcasmoI'm only a bit younger, but in the late '60s as kids in Florida we did the same fogger-truck chasing thing with (more expensive, and I'm dubious if this was any less-dangerous than what you did) synthetic pyrethroids or similar mosquito-killers that 3rd world nations simply could not afford at the time. And my parents, who were normally hypervigilant about any imagined threat to us kids, would let us play -- but come to think of it, the skeeter truck usually came around the cocktail hour, so I can see why they'd want to get rid of us!
JMR
I must agree with you - DDT
May 18, 2007 - 14:47 ET by StogieGuyI must agree with you - DDT was bad stuff, as far as the food chain was concerned. The chemical is slow to break down and is highly toxic. It becomexs concentrated in muscle tissue and takes generations to remove from the food chain. And, it really did affect bird eggs in such a way that they were thin and broke under the weight of the mother. It happened on a grand scale. Only now has DDT been removed from the food chain.
That is was used as a delousing agent doesn't mean it's safe. Workers used to wash their hands in PCB-laced oil too. I know a guy who did this and he later died of leukemia - with no family history. There are other effective ways of dealing with Malaria - John Stossel was not completely correct on this one (even if he usually is). Corruption, poverty and lack of education do more for Malaria than DDT ever did against it. That's why its an epidemic in Africa and is generally unknown here (though it was common in the 1700s).
Although I may agree with buddyc on the issue of DDT; I do agree with the idea that Rachael Carson's efforts were not appropriately examined by the MSM. Why was her plan to ban DDT not labeled as "controversial"? It was, because it had a lot of opposition. There is, indeed, a lack of balance.
I have a problem with the treatment of any conservative point of view as "controversial" and liberal ones as mainstream thought. Just an overall comment.
I'm not at all saying the d
May 18, 2007 - 17:21 ET by sarcasmoI'm not at all saying the delousing made DDT safe. I'm instead saying it made the stuff widely-tested -- and not just on rats -- with what could be seen as pretty good results by the '60s despite the universal lack of initial good health of the unwitting testees due to the very nasty conditions of their confinement/starvation. Presumably, no John Stossel in 1962 or so was able to say "wait a second, there's a bunch of pretty healthy people out there who all got a pretty good dose of this stuff, and they have normal kids, etc." And yes, it's persistent, but DDT's hardly the only thing that's persistent in living organisms of all sorts. Remember "Scotch Guard"? Ever wonder why you don't see it for sale anymore?? As I said, "the danger is the dose" on all these things, and that's not the same thing as saying they're safe, but modern man's rapidly increased ability to detect poisons over the past decade or so has led to an increased opportunity -- which they've taken -- for the eco-control-freaks of this world.
JMR
Put your money where your mouth is
May 18, 2007 - 14:02 ET by Iconoclast421There's a very simple way to settle this. Just get yourself a gallon of ddt and drink it. I'll pay you 10 bucks. We can set up ddt cafes all across the country and thirsty wingnuts can then put their money where their mouth is. Or their mouth where their money is...
Would it be stretching anyone's imagination if I said this is a good example of how natural selection works to increase our cranial size over many generations?
"There's a very simple
May 18, 2007 - 16:21 ET by ckc1227"There's a very simple way to settle this. Just get yourself a gallon of ddt and drink it. I'll pay you 10 bucks. We can set up ddt cafes all across the country and thirsty wingnuts can then put their money where their mouth is. Or their mouth where their money is..."
What a stupid argument, from an obviously stupid person. And you have the nerve to bring up natural selection and cranial size, lol. Applying your feable logic,nothing is safe, not milk, cookies, cars, aspirin, televisions, etc, etc, etc.
I'll go you one better though. Just get yourself a gallon or two of water and drink all of it as soon as possible. Afterwards, maybe your heirs can write a book about the killer known as water, and petition to have it banned all over the world.
DDT
May 18, 2007 - 14:21 ET by clubdittocomevery time i see fund raisers for mosquito nets for africa i yell at my t.v. "WHAT ABOUT USING D.D.T.?" the hype on the left is so thick i wonder if it isn't just so that celebrities can get air time rather doing a good work. being politically correct is more important than saving lives to these celebrities. the media has just gone silent regarding the benefits of using ddt to eradicate malaria and cholera. so much for hearing both sides of the debate!
My Dad tells me of Miami in
May 18, 2007 - 14:32 ET by sarcasmoMy Dad tells me of Miami in the days before DDT & AC. Mosquitos were 1/2 inch thick blackening his screens trying to get at him, and he used one of those pre-aerosol foggers you see in old Buggs Bunny cartoons to kill them by the 1000s, with no effect. DDT came, and everything changed, BUT -- as I said above, big government was stupid, and gave it away for free at MIA, so people were consequently stupid about overuse of it, and the environment suffered NOT from DDT but from socialism, and THAT'S the untold-by-the-media story. And Miami's a lot nicer now, but you need a few mosquitos to feed baby fish, etc. in mangrove areas where it doesn't make sense to wipe them out anyway. Capitalism, had we tried it back then, would have probably made DDT work quite well worldwide, at immense cost (not to mention human lives...) savings.
JMR
Can anyone post a link that d
May 18, 2007 - 16:43 ET by Tony SCan anyone post a link that details how the banning of DDT led to the deaths of millions? And I mean a credible link.
And is Robitussin the new DDT? I read recently that a whopping FIVE kids died from it in 2005, so they're restricting it to minors.Hysteria knows no bounds. Here is the link:
http://www.wtop.com/?sid=1142245&nid=25
To all concerned here at Newsbusters
May 18, 2007 - 19:04 ET by halfmanhalfamazingThanks for the good work! Keep it up! Beating back the liberal media's propaganda.
But I do have one problem here.
This NB posting as well as the B&M link do not contain the link to the WaPo's article.
http://www.washingto...
Hopefully, in future NB postings this small issue will be resolved.
Thanks.