The mosquito has long, filament-thin legs and dappled wings; she’s of the genus Anopheles, the only insect capable of harbouring the human malaria parasite. And she’s definitely a she: Male mosquitoes have no interest in blood, while females depend on protein-rich haemoglobin to nourish their eggs. A mosquito’s proboscis appears spike-solid, but it’s actually a sheath of separate tools—cutting blades and a feeding tube powered by two tiny pumps. She drills through the epidermis, then through a thin layer of fat, then into the network of blood-filled micro capillaries. She starts to drink. To inhibit the blood from coagulating, the mosquito oils the bite area with a spray of saliva. This is when it happens. Carried in the mosquito’s salivary glands—and entering the body with the lubricating squirt—are minute, worm like creatures. These are the one-celled malaria parasites, known as plasmodia. Fifty thousand of them could swim in a pool the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Typically, a couple of dozen slip into the bloodstream. But it takes just one. A single plasmodium is enough to kill a person.
In May 2006, I was visiting some friends in Montreal. Their youngest son was extremely bright. At the time, he was just about finishing high school. He was most interested in nature and in conservation. I noticed the book he was reading: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.
By then, there was a good deal of controversy about the impact of Silent Spring. I remembered having a very interesting discussion with him on DDT and his views on conservation. We agreed that to be fair to Carson, she never advocated a total ban.
In September of 2006, WHO backed the use of DDT.
3 Billion and Counting premieres today in Manhattan. It was directed, written and produced by D. Rutledge Taylor, MD, and it explores the devastating death toll caused by malaria since the ban on DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane): 3 billion and counting indeed.
Elizabeth M. Whelan, the president of the American Council on Science and Health took up the story about the film:
"Dr. Taylor not only educates us, but he also sparks outrage about the unforeseen consequences of a scientifically ignorant chemical witchhunt, one that has caused untold human suffering and billions of deaths, primarily among children."
“Scientists have never found an effective substitute for DDT — and so the malaria death rate has kept on soaring.
“In his dissection of the rise of the environmental movement and the fall of science, Dr. Taylor not only educates us, but he also sparks outrage about the unforeseen consequences of a scientifically ignorant chemical witchhunt, one that has caused untold human suffering and billions of deaths, primarily among children. While any man-on-the-street interview will yield an overwhelming majority of negative comments about DDT — a ‘highly toxic, killer chemical’ – the reality is that DDT has saved more lives than any other man-made chemical.”