The Patriot Post® · Mosquitos on the Rise Thanks to DDT Ban

Given all the finger-pointing over fake news, it’s worth revisiting the hype over dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane. Most people know it by its acronym, DDT, which is a chemical compound that, before the ecofascists succeeded in banning it in 1972, was an effective means of helping control the mosquito population and, by extension, deadly diseases such as malaria. The self-righteous Left heralded the ban as saving the environment. The reality is that the DDT embargo, not so-called climate change, has prompted a rapid buildup of disease-spreading mosquitoes.

Via The Washington Times: “The U.S. mosquito population is on the rise, but don’t blame climate change. Blame the ban on the insecticide DDT. A study published this week in Nature Communications attributed the decay of DDT concentrations as well as urbanization to an increase in mosquitoes over the past 50 years. … The analysis, conducted by researchers from Rutgers, the University of California Davis and the University of California Santa Cruz, flies in the face of statements by environmental groups linking warmer temperatures to mosquito-borne ailments like the West Nile and Zika viruses.”

Even the EPA admits DDT “was effective for insect control in crop and livestock production, institutions, homes, and gardens,” though it goes on to claim that environmental and biological hazards countermand the benefits. It’s true that DDT is a potent chemical and should be used judiciously. But like many things leftist do-gooders obsess about, the faux alarm created by lobbyists has not helped the situation, either. Just like fossil fuels, which provide cool air and heat during seasonal swings, are crucial to our livelihood, DDT is critical to helping regulate disease-carrying insects. Let’s stop ostracizing it with fake news.