Rachel Carson has never been forgiven by the chemical industry or the right wing for her efforts to educate the public on the downside of trying to solve pest problems with DDT. When I was invited to attend a meeting of the right wing Mt. Pelerin Society a few years back I was surprised to hear not intelligent conversation about markets and ecologies, but rather utterings as to Carson being guilty of “genocide” because banning DDT in the US led to millions of deaths in Africa and elsewhere from malaria. The lunch table where I encountered this imbecility was dominated by people associated with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a think tank that has learned to make money from big corporations while posing as a classical liberal site. Michael Crichton is yet another right winger who has made money spreading this myth.
CEI’s corporate sponsored nastiness towards Carson through a web site they sponsored encouraged Republican Senator Tom Coburn to nix efforts to honor Carson in the Senate on her birthday.
I was reading the excellent site science blogs today and came across a post by Tim Lambert discussing the real facts concerning DDT and malaria. Lambert discusses and links to an excellent piece in Salon by Kirsten Weir that goes into greater depth on the truth behind DDT an malaria.
As a matter of fact, Carson did not oppose all use of DDT. She wrote “”No responsible person contends that insect-borne disease should be ignored,” she wrote. “It is not my contention that chemical insecticides must never be used. I contend … that we have allowed these chemicals to be used with little or no advance investigation of their effect on soil, water, wildlife, and man himself.”‘ Further, Weir’s article points out that “In fact, the decline in DDT use coincided with a drop in malaria rates.”
But, alas, truth no longer matters for all too many who call themselves “classical liberal” and “conservatives.” As a former classical liberal myself it s depressing to see an intellectual position that once contributed insightful analysis to social and political issues become an absurdist caricature of itself.
On a far higher moral and intellectual level than anything produced by CEI, Carson’s work is carried on by organizations such as the Rachel Carson Council, Inc. , RachelCarson.org, and many more.