Environmentalism Has Its Limits

Fire of Liberty

Here's a wonderful piece by Thomas Bray in the Detroit News which points out that scientists at WHO(World Health Organization) and other scientists are re-assessing their views on the pesticide DDT and are recommending the use of such chemicals to kill prevent the spread of malaria in the third world. Above all else, this column makes the point that maybe the folks running around foretelling future dooms to our planet because "science shows/proves this" should take a breather and realize that maybe things aren't what they seem at the time. I can recall the "Silent Spring" alarmism over DDT/pesticides, global cooling, Paul R. Ehrlich's overpopulation scare(The Population Bomb-1968), acid rain that all fell apart in the long run. Sometimes the most helpful policy with something as tricky as nature is to avoid expensive solutions as with the case to global warming or deadly results(malaria) with regards to the ban on DDT.