In 1972 the US banned the agricultural use of DDT, but did not ban its use against malaria. Other countries followed suit. The ban on the agricultural use of DDT has probably saved many lives by slowing the development of resistance. However, Michael Crichton blames the ban for 50 million deaths:
"Since the ban, two million people a year have died unnecessarily from malaria, mostly children. The ban has caused more than fifty million needless deaths. Banning DDT killed more people than Hitler."
Junkscience has a death clock that blames the ban for an impossible 90 million deaths. Impossible because there haven't been that many deaths from malaria since 1972.
But Stanley K. Monteith, M.D. reckons even the 90 million number is way too low:
You will note that Reverend Niemoeller warned that after coming for the Jews the Nazis came for both Catholics and Protestants. Why is that fact never mentioned? The question that I am most frequently asked is, "How can you possibly believe that there are people who intend to kill off large segments of the world's population?" My answer is really quite simple. I hold that belief because I have read their writings. I believe they are telling the truth. Just as Adolf Hitler wrote of his plans for Europe in "Mein Kampf" (My Plan), so, too, those who intend to depopulate large segments of the earth have written of the necessity of limiting the world's population. They fully intend to "exterminate" a significant portion of the world's population. The fact that the vast majority of Americans have never heard of their intent, of The Georgia Guidestones in Elberton, or of "The Plan" and "The Hierarchy" attests to the degree of control that exists over what the American people have been allowed to know about the occultic forces which are working within our society today. ...
How many people have died in the past 25 years since the use of DDT was outlawed? If the National Academy of Sciences was correct in their 1970 assessment that 500 million lives had been saved by DDT over a twenty-year period, then we have probably lost well over 600 million human lives during the past twenty-five years since advocates of population control succeeded in outlawing DDT.
Monteith may be completely nuts, but he's a piker compared with these guys, who put the death total due to the DDT ban (did I mention yet that using DDT against malaria is not banned?) at 3 BILLION AND COUNTING. They say that "190 people die per minute due to the direct and indirect ban of DDT and other pesticides." I give them 10 out of 10 for multiplication: 190 per minute is 100 million a year, which is 3 billion over the 30 years or so since 1972. And I give them 0 out of 10 for common sense because 100 million per year is more than the 2 million who die from malaria and it's more than the 60 million people who die each year from all causes.
The 3 BILLION AND COUNTING folks are making a movie called, no fooling, "3 Billion and Counting" about the 3 BILLION people killed by the DDT ban. And Dr Evil doesn't seem to be in it.
Update: MFUK went over to the 9 BILLION AND COUNTING forum and asked how there could be more deaths from malaria than the total number of deaths from all causes. Rutledge came back with:
The total number of REPORTED annual worldwide deaths from all causes is around 60 million.
Mind you he did come up with a cite for the 100 million per year number. J Gordon Edwards
"An estimated 100 million people die a year as the direct and indirect result of the banning of DDT and other pesticides. These are deaths from malaria, from other insect-home diseases, and from the results of reduced food crops. "
I wonder how many of them even gave a thought to the fact that by now mosquitoes could/would have developed resistance to DDT?
Stanley Monteith is fascinating. I hear his Radio Liberty program on local broadcast stations occasionally and I'm always amazed by the stuff he and his guests come up with. There are so many occult and political and medical conspiracies going on that staffing them all must be an acute problem. I'm kind of hurt that I haven't been asked to join any!
Oh, Zeno, I'm part of several of those political and medical conspiracies -- I split my time between the "slaughter billions via DDT ban" team and the "UN takeover" team -- and let me tell you, it's a grind like any other. Filling out forms, dealing with irritating co-workers ... sigh. Desk jobs. Whaddya gonna do?
Well, I have questions. Who has the authoritative figures for how many lives have been saved by DDT? And, the projections for future mosquito resistance and and malaria deaths, versus not using DDT?
Tim, you have failed to understand the breakthrough in epidemiology accomplished by these people.
Had you paid attention to the death counter, you would have noticed that the count always starts at 3 billion. All you have to do is reload the page, and everyone who died since you started reading is brought back to life!
And if everyone who believes in DDT Tinkerbell will just clap their hands, she will not only live, she will sprinkle her magic dust upon the world and bring all 3 billion back to life, including the 1.2 billion or so who never died in the first place!
OK, obligatory joke:
If 3 BILLION haven't been killed, then come there are still PYGMIES + DWARVES?
Seems to be the same logic.
I think "Stewie" Milloy's "Junkscience Death Clock" pertains to the death of brain cells - his own.
Poor fellow. Interesting about that new-age population control monument, but it's hardly evidence for anything more than that one person had more money than sense.
" I split my time between the "slaughter billions via DDT ban" team and the "UN takeover" team -- and let me tell you, it's a grind like any other. Filling out forms, dealing with irritating co-workers ... sigh. Desk jobs. Whaddya gonna do?"
Yeah, but look at the wonderful pension plan you get as part of the Evil Global Conspiracy.
Hang on...unless they just convinced us how wonderful the benefits as were with their microwave mind-control rays.
jre, DDT is a true wonder - it brings both immortality and virility (1). Viagra has nothing on DDT.
(1) Not recommended for raptors or aquatic life.
David, how do you squeeze time in for the gay agenda? That's really the big time consumer for me. Oh, and the war on Christmas of course, but that's seasonal.
Oh great, now Lambert is an expert on epidemiology, statistics and the lifecycle of the mosquito in addition to his advanced degrees in environmental economics and physics.
His published papers in these areas must be a wonder to behold. Has the Nobel Committee been informed?
By the way, if you want to "audit" Essex and McKitrick, why must you do it on Steve McIntyre's blog? haven't you got one of your own? Or is it just an infantile call for attention? Your "posts" have been put in the moderation queue, as Steve requested. What he does with them, if anything, is up to him.
That seems to have come out of the blue.
Does anyone know what John A is whining about?
Does anyone know what John A is whining about?
Those guys always whine -- why, who knows... although that recent study suggests they were whiny as babies, so maybe that's it.
John A, you don't have to be "an expert on epidemiology, statistics and the lifecycle of the mosquito" to know that malaria can't have killed yearly more people than die each year -- that is impossible (and shouldn't require an advanced degree of any sort to understand). Similarly, one doesn't need an advanced degree of any sort to know that the "DDT ban" is a falsehood. And one doesn't need an advanced degree of any sort to know that mosquito populations evolve a resistance to DDT (just as bacteria can, and does, do with anti-biotics).
Mildly amusing anyway that JohnA has at least gotten a bit shy about trumpeting his ummmm mastery of thermodynamics (I infer from his neglecting to rubbish it above as one of Tim's areas of expertise). "While we live we grow" and all; good for him.
frankis, I think that you are overestimating John A. If you are wondering what his comment is about, he has been deleting all the comments I post at climateaudit.
Tim:
You're not suggesting that Climate Audit is engaged in censoring comments, are you? Gasp!!
Although that is what John A seems to be saying.
Kristjan,
You really need to get on board here. We who are fighting battles in the war on Easter could use a little help.
Bob, the Easter Bunny is a rare, egg-laying mammal. Presumably a monotreme. It's definiely endangered. It's vital that we prevent good, upstanding honest capitalists from making billions exploiting this rare natural wonder. Climb into your black hurricane-inducing helicopter and get crackin'!!
I think Lancet needs to commission a study to calculate the excess deaths.
I assume the answer will be "between 6 million and 194 million."