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…Malaria is a confounding disease—often, it seems, contradictory to logic. Curing almost all malaria cases can be worse than curing none. Destroying fragile wetlands, in the world of malaria, is a noble act. Rachel Carson, the environmental icon, is a villain; her three-letter devil, DDT, is a savior. Carrying a gene for an excruciating and often fatal blood disorder, sickle-cell anemia, is a blessing, for it confers partial resistance to falciparum. Leading researchers at a hundred medical centers are working on antimalarial medicines, but a medicinal plant described 1,700 years ago may be the best remedy available…
…In 1962 Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, documenting this abuse and painting so damning a picture that the chemical was eventually outlawed by most of the world for agricultural use. Exceptions were made for malaria control, but DDT became nearly impossible to procure. “The ban on DDT,” says Gwadz of the National Institutes of Health, “may have killed 20 million children.”… Hier lesen