DDT vs. Malaria: My Response

My initial response is that there seems to be very much a one-sided thing on DDT. However, I don't know for sure, but I will definitely look into it.

From my own personal stance, the chemical approach to any problem is not the answer, ever. It is a temporary fix. In the case of DDT, even if DDT were as harmless to other creatures except mosquitoes as water, it would have to be applied over and over and over and over again consistently in order to ensure that the mosquitoes were completely eradicated. Without consistent application, the odds are that the mosquitoes would then develop into a super mosquito who is DDT resistant. And we're back to square one. I am convinced that the solution needs to be more holistic in its approach. It needs to address the conditions that allow malaria to be so devastating such as nutrition, clean water, secure shelters, etc. Vaccines and treatment medications need to be developed that are affordable and available. People need to be educated on how to avoid ideal mosquito breeding locations and situations, etc.

Anyway, I am not attacking you, nor the validity of us needing to take action to stop this persecution and injustice NOW. I am just SO concerned with the "typical western approach" which has traditionally been to put a band-aid on it and it will be all better instead of addressing the problem from a culturally-relevant, sustainable (not dependent on outside funding, but driven by the affected ppl themselves) perspective. I firmly believe that only when we approach these problems in this way, we will not continue to have to address the oopsies of applying a western solution to a non-western situation.