DDT Comeback Endorsed by World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reversed a 30-year policy by endorsing the use of DDT for malaria control. The chemical is sprayed inside houses to kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes which kill more than one million people each year. WHO says there is no health risk.

Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, WHO assistant director-general for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria said "Indoor residual spraying is useful to quickly reduce the number of infections caused by malaria-carrying mosquitoes; it has proven to be just as cost effective as other malaria prevention measures, and DDT presents no health risk when used properly."

"Of the dozen insecticides WHO has approved as safe for house spraying, the most effective is DDT," said Arata Kochi, director of the WHO's Global Malaria Programme. "Help save African babies as you are helping to save the environment," pleaded Dr. KochiGlobal ban A potent insecticide, DDT fell into disrepute with the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring just over 40 years ago. Recent publications have questioned the credibility of some information in the book. The book claimed that widespread, indiscriminate use of DDT and related compounds was killing wildlife over vast tracts of North America and Western Europe