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162 lines
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Plaintext
162 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
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Phony Research Led to Ban on DDT
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THE ANGRY ENVIRONMENTALIST SPEAKS OUT
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by `Fossil Bill' Kramer
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{DDT took a bum rap!}
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Does this shock you? It did me, but there is no doubt about the facts.
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As a result of America's ban of this cheapest, most effective pesticide
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ever developed, millions of people around the world have died of pest-borne
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disease. And though few realize it, DDT's absence has adversely affected this
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nation as well.
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Who's to blame? In a measure, everyone who, 20 years ago, joined the
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lockstep hysteria that brought this about.
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Especially guilty are environmental leaders who shaped public attitudes,
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the media who sensationalized their propaganda, and federal bureaucrats who
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made the final decision.
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Here I must acknowledge my own complicity. Only 18 months ago, I foolishly
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published a column blaming DDT for the near-demise of bald eagles.
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I was still marching lockstep with my eyes closed.
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Now, however, I've examined the facts. It's been an eye-opener.
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There's an old adage: ``Figures don't lie; but liars figure.''
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Even so, it was appalling to learn that some scientists deliberately
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falsified their research, did phony studies aimed at producing misleading
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results, and then proclaimed truth revealed.
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It's particularly evil that fraud was the basis for policies which caused
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disaster to all sorts of people.
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- The Allegations -
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In 1972, the allegations against DDT were serious:
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1. It was carcinogenic, and poisonous to humans.
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2. It persisted in nature, continuing to kill for long periods.
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3. It was driving bald eagles, brown pelicans, and other birds to
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extinction, causing thin eggshells which broke before hatching. ``Birds are
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laying omelettes instead of eggs,'' one report said.
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4. Residues in the oceans threatened the algae which produce the planet's
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oxygen.
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And there were other, equally devastating charges. The truth, though, was
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quite the opposite.
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The first allegation was false. DDT is not carcinogenic. Nor is it
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poisonous. To demonstrate this, people have publicly swallowed it by the
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glassful.
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``DDT hasn't killed anybody,'' says Dr. J. Gordon Edwards, professor of
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entomology at San Jose State University.
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``Even people that sprayed the DDT--130,000 spraymen every year--none of
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them ever got sick,'' Edwards says.
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Allegation Number 2 was likewise false. Dr. George Woodwell (co-founder of
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the Environmental Defense Fund, which spearheaded the drive against DDT) was a
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prime source of derogatory information. He reported that an ``average of 13
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lbs. of DDT per acre'' had been found in the soil of a Long Island, N.Y.
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marsh.
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But he didn't report that, to ``discover'' such amounts, ``scientists''
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deliberately sampled only ground where DDT was mixed, loaded into spray
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trucks, and the sprayers tested.
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- They Lied -
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In public hearings, Woodwell conceded that his samplings were
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``deliberately biased in order to find the highest residues we could find,
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because at the time we wondered whether we could find any residues....''
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EPA's hearing examiner, Edmund Sweeney, was irate. His report cited
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``appalling instances'' such as ``publication of ... faulty information which
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... was never corrected and apparently is still being relied upon.''
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Meanwhile, ocean and soil studies by the Department of the Interior showed
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that 90% of DDT residues disappeared within 40 days.
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Sweened recommended against banning DDT, but was overruled. EPA Director
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William Ruckelshaus in 1970 had declared ``carcinogenic claims concerning DDT
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are unproved speculation,'' but in 1972 issued the order banning it.
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Ruckelshaus later admitted the action was political.
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The third allegation--thin eggshells--also turned out to be phony.
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Shells were reported 40% thinner than normal. But ducks fed a diet laced
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with DDT showed maximum shell thinning of 15% in one study, while in another,
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conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game, they showed thicker
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eggshells.
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Meanwhile, another study was deliberately biased by researchers who fed
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birds DDT but withheld calcium--and then reported eggshell thinning.
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- And The Algae? -
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Most frightening of all were claims that residues of this supposedly
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long-lasting toxin in the oceans would kill the algae which create most of the
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Earth's oxygen supply.
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This was demonstrably false. Tests showed even saturated solutions of DDT
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in ocean water had no effect on algae.
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Many details could be given if space permitted. But from a world well on
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the way to ridding itself of malaria through use of DDT, we now have a planet
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where mosquitoes proliferate and perhaps 200 to 300 million cases of malaria
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occur each year, killing several million people annually.
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The question is, why do people perpetrate such frauds, and why do the rest
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of us continue believing them?
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While spreading phony charges against DDT, doomsayers also were having
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highly publicized conniptions about an ``imminent ice age.''
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Now the identical crowd that prophesied global cooling tells us global
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warming is coming.
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Are we going to believe them?
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Let us know your answer. Write: Environmentalist, Box 146, Silver Bay,
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Minn. 55614. We'll print the best responses.
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reprinted with permission from
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THE NEW FEDERALIST
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subscriptions $35 per year
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published weekly
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P.O. box 889
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Leesburg VA 22075
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X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
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Another file downloaded from: The NIRVANAnet(tm) Seven
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& the Temple of the Screaming Electron Taipan Enigma 510/935-5845
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Burn This Flag Zardoz 408/363-9766
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realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 510/527-1662
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Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 801/278-2699
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The New Dork Sublime Biffnix 415/864-DORK
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The Shrine Rif Raf 206/794-6674
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Planet Mirth Simon Jester 510/786-6560
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"Raw Data for Raw Nerves"
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X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
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