Homestead mailing list

["Melody O." <melody AT crecon.com>]

At 09:49 AM 1/8/05 -0700, you wrote:
>This is a sobering article. Along with others we have recently read, it 
>points out that malaria kills many times more people than the recent 
>tsunami did. But--somebody give me a reality check, please--I find myself 
>wondering if such human catastrophes are not simply Nature protecting 
>herself, a way that Gaia is creating a balance from the increasing 
>destructiveness of its dominant species. I feel pretty certain that human 
>overpopulation is the biggest threat to our planetary home. Yet, not one of 
>us  could look a sick child in the face and not want to help in any way 
>possible. But looking at the big picture, consider the outcome if all lives 
>were saved. Am I losing my humanity?

As with any drug, one has to make sure that the benefits outweigh the risks.  

In a country such as the US, who does not -to the best of my knowledge-
have to worry about malaria, I think DDT would not be a good choice. We do
have West Nile Virus here, but I think DDT would be bringing out an
elephant gun to kill...well, a mosquito.

But in other countries that have trouble with malaria where thousands die
because of bites by infected mosquitoes, of course DDT would be a wise
solution.  If they don't use it, many are going to die.  If they do use it,
it may cause *possible* birth defects and premature births.