[afro-nets] Fox and Wash Times on DDT (4)

["Philip Coticelli" <pcoticelli@gmail.com>]

Fox and Wash Times on DDT (4)
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Dear Stuart and Jeff,

Thanks for your concerns and I appreciate the sentiment.  However I 
regret that I can't corroborate the scientific credentials of every 
journalist that prints something about malaria and DDT.  The Steve 
Milloy paragraphs about Ruckleshaus reversing the rulings of the EPA 
judge that DDT was not harmful to humans nor responsible for the 
decline in bald eagle populations as suggested by Rachel Carson is a 
matter of historical fact.  I would encourage you and everyone else on 
the list to read about the proceedings elsewhere for corroboration.

The fact is these agencies were among the very few mainstream media 
covering USAID's public announcement that they would be funding DDT.  I 
hope you don't really believe that every news outlet underneath Rupert 
Murdoch (there are MANY subsidiaries) is running spurious news.  If you 
do, I'd submit this to you: if you agree that over a million people 
dying each year due to malaria is terrible and unnecessary, and you 
agree with many public health scientists, including the EPA judge that 
presided over the DDT hearings in 1972, that DDT is not harmful to 
humans but a tremendous resource in the fight against malaria, then you 
should appreciate the fact that these two outlets - contentious as 
their owners may be - have supported good public health science that 
will save lives today.

--
Philip Coticelli 
mailto:pcoticelli@gmail.com