Scientists urge cutback in DDT use in Africa, Asia
An international group of environmentalth health experts is warning against the growing practice of spraying the pesticide DDT in homes in malaria-plagued African and Asian countries.
Marla Cone, writing for Environmental Health News, reports that the group of 15 scientists, led by a University of California epidemiologist, urges that DDT be used only as a last resort, even to fight a deadly disease like malaria. People are at risk of serious health effects from the pesticide when it is sprayed in their homes to kill malaria-bearing mosquitoes, the group said.
The scientists' stance is likely to reignite a debate about the safety of DDT, which has been banned for decades in the United States and much of the rest of the world. The US banned it in 1972 after scientists found it building up in the food chain and that it was behind steep declines in populations of bald eagles, pelicans and other wildlife.
Public health experts, however, have argued that the pesticide is the only one effective at fighting malaria in Africa and Asia. Spraying it in homes was officially endorsed by the World Health Organization and by a U.S. aid program to fight world malaria that was launched by former President George W. Bush. Here's a link to WHO's guidelines for indoor residential spraying.
Malaria remains one of the world's deadliest diseases, claiming about 880,000 lives a year. But Cone reports that the scientists, who reviewed some 500 studies, concluded that because of the health problems that could be caused by DDT, it “should be used with caution, only when needed, and when no other effective, safe and affordable alternatives are locally available.”
Among the health risks the scientists cited: reduced fertility, genital birth defects, breast cancer, diabetes and damage to developing brains.
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I report on the environment and Chesapeake Bay. A native of West Virginia, I have focused mainly on Maryland's environment since moving here in 1983. Along the way, I've crewed aboard a skipjack in the bay, canoed under city streets up the Jones Fall from the Inner Harbor, and gone deep underground in a western Maryland coal mine. Recently, I have been covering the growth and development transforming the landscape. I love seafood, rambles in the country and good stories. I hope to share some here.
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The scientists say, "DDT...should be used with caution, only when needed, and when no other effective, safe and affordable alternatives are locally available.”
And the good news is that this is exactly the condition under which the President's Malaria Initiative uses DDT in indoor residual spraying (IRS), and all the more reason to wholeheartedly support the vast scaling up campaign of IRS against the malaria vectors that is being carried out worldwide today. Under PMI, the insecticides being used are mostly non-DDT, and DDT is used under those strict conditions, and the environmental regulations followed in its use are those of the World Health Organization (WHO) or the US EPA, whichever is more strict.
Posted by: Barmak Kusha | May 4, 2009 2:24 PM
Mr. Wheeler: The decision of which insecticide to use in an IRS program is first restricted to the twelve World Health Organization recommended insecticides, and then is based on twelve factors including susceptibility of vectors, host country registration status, toxicity to non-target species, and cost.
The U.S. and malaria fighting community promotes four highly-effective malaria control interventions: IRS, procurement and promotion of insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs), malaria prevention among pregnant women, and case management including procurement of artemisinin-based combination therapies and improved diagnostics and pharmaceutical management. IRS is not promoted exclusively, but in combination with all four interventions. Choice of intervention or combination of interventions is based on a careful analysis epidemiological and entomological analysis of the country.
Any IRS or other activities are synchronized with host country health strategic plans, and implemented under the leadership of host country governments.
Posted by: Caswell | May 5, 2009 9:46 AM