PRESS RELEASE

Environmentalism Kills! The Case of
the Rise of Dengue Fever

Nov. 16, 2013 (EIRNS)—On Oct. 9 of this year, the Houston Chronicle report that Baylor College of Medicine scientists have discovered the incidence of dengue fever, one of the most virulent tropical diseases worldwide, in Houston, Texas. While in recent years, dengue has been found in Hawaii, southern Florida, and along the Texas-Mexican border, this is the first incidence in a major U.S. city, according to the scientists.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease, and, according to the World Health Organization, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has been on a resurgence over the past 50 years, including in the United States. This resurgence, of a disease originally attacked effectively by the use of DDT in the 1950s, was made inevitable as of 1972, when William Ruckelshaus, head of the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States, banned DDT. As documented extensively in the archive of 21st Science & Technology (see website), Ruckelshaus knew there was no scientific basis for the banning—as claimed by Rachel Carson; he did it for "political reasons."

Without the restoration of DDT, the chances for preventing escalating deaths from dengue, including in the United States, are virtually nil.

Dengue is a pandemic in various nations around the world, including India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico. It infects more than 100 million people a year, and kills at least 25,000. Before 1970, the disease had been identified in 9 tropical countries; now it has spread to more than 100. There is no vaccine or treatment for the virus, which can cause death, especially among infected infants.

According to the World Health Organization, in 2012, dengue ranked as the fastest spreading vector-borne viral disease, with an epidemic potential in the world, registering a 30-fold increase in disease incidence over the past 50 years.

WHO calls for "preventive measures," but, without banning the environmentalists, the only ones being promoted are things like mosquito netting. What is needed, is the elimination of the mosquitoes that carry the disease—starting with the proven pesticide, DDT!

A few African countries have transgressed the ban in recent decades, but the general ban continues. Ban the environmentalists, not DDT.