Dominic Lawson spreads DDT ban myth : Deltoid

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Tim Lambert (deltoidblog AT gmail.com) is a computer scientist at the University of New South Wales.

Dominic Lawson spreads DDT ban myth

Category: DDT
Posted on: March 8, 2007 11:39 AM, by Tim Lambert

Alex catches Dominic Lawson spreading the DDT ban myth. Lawson is the brother-in-law of Christopher Monckton who also spead the myth.

Comments

Off topic, but Michael Fumento gets quoted approvingly:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/with-friends-like-erin-brockovich-aboard-the-carbon-train-8230/2007/03/09/1173166983974.html

Posted by: Disinterested Observer | March 9, 2007 9:46 AM

Thanks, DO

Posted by: Tim Lambert | March 9, 2007 10:54 AM

The WHO themselves say they went through a period from the early 1980s when they did not promote the use of DDT because of mistaken environmental concerns.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2006/pr50/en/ Monckton may be wrong on climate change but he's in general right on DDT promotion.

Posted by: johng | March 16, 2007 7:51 AM

No he isn't

Posted by: Tim Lambert | March 16, 2007 10:00 AM

In the media release from WHO of 15 Sept 2006 they very clearly state that 'WHO actively promoted indoor residual spraying for malaria control until the early 1980s when increased health and environmental concerns surrounding DDT caused the organization to stop promoting its use and to focus instead on other means of prevention. Extensive research and testing has since demonstrated that well-managed indoor residual spraying programmes using DDT pose no harm to wildlife or to humans'. There are a number of other statements on the who website (which I am having trouble pasting in) where WHO recognises its mistake in this area in not promoting DDT for indoor residual spraying.
Monckton was rather inflammatory in his language on this matter, but the point remains that although DDT was not banned from indoor spraying for mosquitos, its use was so discouraged by WHO and others, that we lost many more lives to malaria than we should have.

Posted by: Johng | March 17, 2007 6:22 AM

Yes, that's what the media release says. It's not true. See my link.

Posted by: Tim Lambert | March 17, 2007 8:35 AM

"The WHO themselves say they went through a period from the early 1980s when they did not promote the use of DDT because of mistaken environmental concerns."

What do elderly rock groups have to do with it?

Posted by: z | March 17, 2007 7:40 PM