Can DDT eradicate malaria? Hoax or fact?

Question:

There are hundreds of articles on the net. Many say true, some say false. Reasoning that insects become immune to pesticides. If so then why is malaria so scarce in developed countries that have used DDT (before the ban)? Had the ban of DDT inadvertently caused the deaths of millions?

Answers:
DDT is still used in Mexico's rural towns on the coast line to control CONTROL malarya. But thre is still malarya and dengue fever and plenty so with all the damages that DDT does to a body, the pests still linger.

I know because I was a disaster relief aide for hurricane victims in Oaxaca, Mexico. The mosquito problem has been a real issue down there and in Central America. so even today when they are still using DDT they still have the problem but its a lot more under control.

Goverment arrives with a truck that is loaded with DDT and a man walking next to the truck moving very slowly starts spraying all the vegetation and roads and whatever or wherever the truck rides thorugh, they spray.

I would not say that malarya is scarce now because of the use of DDT. It is still a very deadly fact in places where those mosquitoes abound even when, Iike i said above, they run their trucks full of DDT and spray everything.

In Sweden, where the winters are very cold -60F in winter, you would think mosquitos would die and nope they dont. The next spring and summer the mosquitoes and ticks are very well and ready to plunge into people's skin.

So maybe it is that insects have and do convert, like antibiotics, into stronger more resistant insects and do survive more than any other species.

Other Answers:
DDT was discovered during World War II to be a great means of stopping infection from typhus and malaria. Its inventor, Paul Hermann Mueller, won the Nobel Prize in 1948.
The full case is presented in the New York Times masterpiece from Tina Rosenberg "What the World Needs Now Is DDT" (April 11, 2004).
The last two sentences of her article: "DDT is a victim of its success, having so thoroughly eliminated malaria in wealthy nations that we forget why we once needed it. But malaria kills Africans today. Those worried about the arrogance of playing God should realize that we have forged an instrument of salvation, and we choose to hide it under our robes."
Another quote from Tina Rosenberg: "DDT, the very insecticide that eradicated malaria in developed nations, has been essentially deactivated as a malaria-control tool today. The paradox is that sprayed in tiny quantities inside houses -- the only way anyone proposes to use it today -- DDT is most likely not harmful to people or the environment. Certainly, the possible harm from DDT is vastly outweighed by its ability to save children's lives."
Source(s):
"What the World Needs Now Is DDT" (April 11, 2004), by Tina Rosenberg - New York Times.

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Can DDT eradicate malaria? Hoax or fact?

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