[tn-bird] Re: DDT NOT BAD, ENVIRONMENTALISTS BAD

TN Birders

This subject has caught my intrest before. Along side my copy "Silent =
Spring" by Rachel Carson I find a copy of "Trashing the Planet" by Dixy =
Lee Ray. Ms. Carson's idea's have echoed through time and even here we =
read them again. A less know side of the coin, so to speak, is shown by =
Dr. Ray as she reports increases in bird populations throughout the DDT =
years as per annual counts by the Audubon Society at Christmastime and =
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary annual hawk counts. She contends DDT's abuse not =
use is/was harmful. Further, the quote "..more than 93% of DDT is broken =
down in 38 days, but one part per trillion can be detected in inshore =
waters." is found in the same title.

"Til we bird again

Rack Cross
Blountville, TN
Sullivan County =20
-----Original Message-----
From: James Brooks <comeback@xxxxxxxx>
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 3:16 PM
Subject: [tn-bird] Re: DDT NOT BAD, ENVIRONMENTALISTS BAD



Public health officials in places like Amazonian Brazil (I've=20
interviewed one from Manaus) say DDT is the pesticide of choice and is=20
used there for malaria control.

The reason it kills birds is that it does not break down and is thus=20
passed on from insects to fish to birds that eat fish, like bald eagles. =

The immediate effect on them is egg shell thinning, so the egg breaks=20
while being incubated by the weight of the mother.

They use it in the rain forest for the same reason: it does not break=20
down in an environment where it rains every day. Of course it does get=20
washed downstream. The public health people have identified malaria as=20
the number one health hazard and are willing to go to extreme risks to=20
fight it.

In the tropics there are bromeliades that collect rain water and breed=20
mosquitoes, sometimes high in the trees. No amount of spraying DDT in=20
the backwaters of the Amazon will ever eradicate malaria, and 40 years=20
of it just proves that. Deeper in the jungle, indiginous people run=20
naked and are not affected by malaria until white man's civilization is=20
intruded upon them. We might do better to ask why this is so.

This business of ecology is complex and requires us to think things=20
through rather than reaching for the nearest band-aid in the form of a=20
poison spray or powder. What are the consequences of our actions? Is a=20
crises, or something perceived as a crises going to spur us to take=20
actions sensible people would not normally take?

Has anyone thought about how West Nile virus came into this country in=20
the first place? It appears to be a more serious problem for bird=20
populations than for humans, where it seems to mostly affect people in=20
my age class who have already lived a lifetime or so. They have a=20
vaccine for horses and probably will be testing a version for humans=20
next year. In our part of the country it will pass for now with first=20
frost.

Think it through. Does it make sense to come up with an old means of=20
destroying mosquitoes when there are newer, safer, and probably more=20
effective larvacides on the market? Have you cleaned out your gutters=20
yet? Does it make sense to use something that kills large birds in order =

to protect them from a disease that is mostly killing large birds?

James Brooks
Jonesborough, TN


Bill Darnell wrote:

>Aren't the only countries in the world with Malaria still using DDT?  =
This
>is just a BS argument! Do we even have any cases of Malaria in the US?  =
 DDT
>is still the #1 pesticide in countries where Malaria is still rampant!
>
>But, on the other hand, I don't put a lot of stock in Rachel Carson =
either.
>Bill Darnell
>Savannah, TN
>
>


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     Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
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