Can we bring back DDT yet?

[Scout26]

Mosquitoes 20 times the size of regular ones.  Highly aggressive.  Oh, and their bite is quite painful.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2338446/Gallinippers-invade-Monster-mosquitoes-20-TIMES-size-normal-bug-invade-central-Florida-heavy-rains.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT#Use_against_malaria

I hope Rachel Carson is smoking a turd in hell.

[charby]

DDT?

•Exposure to DDT is harmful to the nervous system. People exposed to high levels exhibit dizziness, tremor, irritability, and convulsions. Workers with longer term exposure have lasting neurological and cognitive problems.
•Pregnant women exposed to DDT are more likely to have premature or small-for-gestational-age babies. DDT is considered a hormone disrupting chemical due to its estrogen-like properties.

[Brad Johnson]

DDT?

People exposed to high levels exhibit dizziness, tremor, irritability, and convulsions.

Inflammatory rhetoric.  Without information specific to exposure concentration, exposure type, and typical exposure mechanisms, the statement is meaningless, serving no informative purpose.

Brad

[charby]

Inflammatory rhetoric.  Without information specific to exposure concentration, exposure type, and typical exposure mechanisms, the statement is meaningless, serving no informative purpose.

Brad

I volunteer you to be the test subject.

[roo_ster]

I volunteer you to be the test subject.

My grandpa already was.  Damn near bathed in it every year on the farm.  Pissed blood every year afterwards and eventually got prostate cancer.

Still, I would bring back DDT in an instant.  My grandpa endured with zero safety gear was in quantities that would choke a goat. 

DDT works, is not as dangerous as the Silent Spring fraudster claimed, and is persistent.  Many millions of swarthy third-worlders have perished for the preening self-regard exhibited by Western environmentalists.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

but it sold a lotta books

[freakazoid]

[AJ Dual]

My grandpa already was.  Damn near bathed in it every year on the farm.  Pissed blood every year afterwards and eventually got prostate cancer.

Still, I would bring back DDT in an instant.  My grandpa endured with zero safety gear was in quantities that would choke a goat. 

DDT works, is not as dangerous as the Silent Spring fraudster claimed, and is persistent.  Many millions of swarthy third-worlders have perished for the preening self-regard exhibited by Western environmentalists.

Yep, with modern equipment and safety gear, and a lot more "use just enough" science behind it, targeted applications, I'd wager that DDT is actually a lot safer than many of the other organophosphates that have come up to replace it. I have a gut feeling that because the threshold for exposure problems was so high with DDT, that's what led to it's over-use in the first place.

I get a teeny mist-droplet of wasp spray floating back on me or some malathion, and my lips are tingly and numb for an hour or more. 

I'd like to see the LD-50, MSDS comparisons, and teratogenic and carcinogenic breakdown of DDT versus gasoline...

[roo_ster]

I get a teeny mist-droplet of wasp spray floating back on me or some malathion, and my lips are tingly and numb for an hour or more. 

The other day I moved some ant/roach killer and the bottle busted in my hands, squirting it all over my hand & wrist.  I washed it off pronto, but I am still paranoid that the subsequent runny nose may have been from the nerve agent in the spray and not my hay fever.   

Normally, when I use it I wear long sleeves, long pants, a mask, and eyepro.

[brimic]

Mosquitoes 20 times the size of regular ones.  Highly aggressive.  Oh, and their bite is quite painful.

Good thing about living in the North is that ice and cold kill off any notion of giant insects, poisonous reptiles, and other unwanted vermin.

[Scout26]

People exposed to high levels

Define "High Levels".

Are we talking Alar scare levels?  Or the one drop per (averaged sized) room that keeps 'skeeters out for up to a year in many 3rd world countries?

Was it overused in the 40's-50's and 60's.  Hell yes.  So was pretty much everything.  If a little was good, then a lot was betterer.

The DDT ban strikes me as similar to any gun ban.   (He misused it, so no one can have it.)

[HankB]

I'm sure there are millions of Africans in the lowveldt who are so thankful they only have to endure malaria, rather than suffer poisoning by that horrible DDT.

...Damn near bathed in it every year on the farm.  Pissed blood every year afterwards and eventually got prostate cancer...

Dose means a lot . . . there's plenty of evidence that one aspirin or one glass of red wine a day has a beneficial effect; polishing off a bottle of either every day might not be such a good idea.

Good thing about living in the North is that ice and cold kill off any notion of giant insects, poisonous reptiles, and other unwanted vermin.

Back in MN, the mosquito was regarded as the state bird - some wooded areas just outside the Twin Cities routinely cataloged bite rates of over 2000/hour. And a former colleague killed a timber rattler in his garage near Stillwater, near the St. Croix river.

. . . and other unwanted vermin.

Except for Democrats. 

[charby]

Define "High Levels".

Are we talking Alar scare levels?  Or the one drop per (averaged sized) room that keeps 'skeeters out for up to a year in many 3rd world countries?

Was it overused in the 40's-50's and 60's.  Hell yes.  So was pretty much everything.  If a little was good, then a lot was betterer.

The DDT ban strikes me as similar to any gun ban.   (He misused it, so no one can have it.)

DDT also doesn't break down like many of the newer pesticides. Overtime it will accumulate in to higher and higher concentrations as it is used. DDT also accumulates into the fat on animals and this is transported into the animal that eats them. So a mosquitos treated will ddt gets eaten by a dragon fly, those get eaten by a trout, which is eaten by a salmon, which gets served up to you for dinner. Same applies to the herbiovores who eats plant material in areas where ddt is used.

[MechAg94]

Good thing about living in the North is that ice and cold kill off any notion of giant insects, poisonous reptiles, and other unwanted vermin.

Hank beat me to it, but I thought there were areas up North where animals had to be kept inside at certain times of the year or they would be dead by morning. 

[MechAg94]

DDT also doesn't break down like many of the newer pesticides. Overtime it will accumulate in to higher and higher concentrations as it is used. DDT also accumulates into the fat on animals and this is transported into the animal that eats them. So a mosquitos treated will ddt gets eaten by a dragon fly, those get eaten by a trout, which is eaten by a salmon, which gets served up to you for dinner. Same applies to the herbiovores who eats plant material in areas where ddt is used.

I am curious, has there been any rigorous study on the effects on predator birds?  I don't know how much was truth and how much was hype.  I am pretty sure there are more predator birds where I grew up today than their were 30 years ago.  I don't know if it was due to DDT or other factors.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was a combination.

As far as removing the ban, it wouldn't hurt to remove the ban at least for certain uses or concentrations. 

[Scout26]

DDT does breakdown.  Generally into DDE and DDD.  However, I'm not advocating indiscriminate spraying as was done in the 40's through 60's.   DDT is not VX where "one drop will kill you".  

It's like every other chemical we use.  Overuse it and it's bad.  Use the right amount and it can be very helpful and save lives.

Malaria remains a major public health challenge in many countries. 2008 WHO estimates were 243 million cases, and 863,000 deaths.

[Perd Hapley]

APS, I am dissapoint. I figured by now we'd have some theories on how these 'skeeters can be weaponized. 

[charby]

DDT does breakdown.  Generally into DDE and DDD.  However, I'm not advocating indiscriminate spraying as was done in the 40's through 60's.   DDT is not VX where "one drop will kill you".  

It's like every other chemical we use.  Overuse it and it's bad.  Use the right amount and it can be very helpful and save lives.

You know that they are working on a malaria vaccination.

[Balog]

You know that they are working on a malaria vaccination.

I'm sure the 800k plus folks who die this year will be relieved to hear that.

[MechAg94]

Regarding the Big Mosquitos, I looked at the pictures and that mosquito doesn't look all that big to me.  That looks like a typical salt marsh mosquito we have around here quite often.  I hear they can travel many miles in the right conditions.

My boss and I attended a local emergeny planning committee meeting once and they guy who is in charge of mosquito spraying for hte county was there to speak.  He said something like 80% of the known varieties of mosquitos in Texas live in this county.  They put a lot of money into spraying via trucks and planes.  I think I would hate to live down here if that stopped.  

[MechAg94]

APS, I am dissapoint. I figured by now we'd have some theories on how these 'skeeters can be weaponized. 

How do you know that isn't what we are looking at?   

[Gewehr98]

Y'all forget Scout's terminal.

Do you think he really cares if he sucks down a bunch of DDT this late during his earthly shuffle?

 

[Brad Johnson]

APS, I am dissapoint. I figured by now we'd have some theories on how these 'skeeters can be weaponized.  

Laser beams on their heads?

Brad

[Scout26]

You know that they are working on a malaria vaccination.

And have been for quite awhile.  But until there is one (and assuming the current Playmate of the Month doesn't go around convincing people that it makes their kids Autistic/ADD/ADHD) we should use what is known to work to prevent the spread of disease.  

Maybe we should end the use of sanitary sewers and let them work on developing a Dysentery vaccine?

[Scout26]

Y'all forget Scout's terminal.

Do you think he really cares if he sucks down a bunch of DDT this late during his earthly shuffle?

 

That actually was one of the advantages of being on chemo.  Mosquitoes wouldn't land on me or even come near.