Set for ban, DDT lingers in battle against malaria
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
By Alister Doyle, Reuters
OSLO, Norway — Few poisons have ridden such a roller coaster through environmental history as DDT.
Once hailed as a miracle pesticide, DDT is outlawed as one of a "Dirty Dozen" chemicals as of Monday, even as it stays in use as a controversial spray against malaria-spreading mosquitoes.
The man who discovered its power to kill insects won a Nobel Prize in 1948, while shock at its damage to wildlife awoke a global environmental movement in the 1960s.
Into the 21st century, countries including South Africa and Ethiopia still swear by DDT to combat malaria, which kills a million people a year. They say there is scant evidence that DDT is carcinogenic for humans.
"There is still a role for DDT," said Jim Willis, head of the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) chemicals division, estimating that about 25 countries will use DDT under exemptions from the DDT pesticide ban.