Thinking about Lyme disease. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, as I read, was written on junk science. Have a good friend who was infected with Lyme 10 yrs ago. Hurt him bad. So DDT came up lately and I concluded back in the 60s or even 70s I don't remember Lyme? Among other things DDT killed, I'm thinking, if we still used DDT on regular basis Lyme disease
wouldn't be a big worry today. The ticks would be mostly dead. Of course, one always has to be vigilant.
Checking with the "GROUP". Just wonder how on track I am???
Cheers...........Coffeeman
Well, I'd say you're off track.
From an article in the Oregonian newspaper...
"Carson didn't simply fabricate stories about the environmental damage DDT and related chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides were doing to the environment; she wrote her book based on information from several hundred referenced, published sources, most of which were from the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Thanks to the red flags Carson raised and further scientific research, the use of DDT was banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after 1972. DDT had been implicated in eggshell thinning in bald eagles and, coincidence or not, after the ban, bald eagle populations began to rebuild and today are very healthy."
DDT and its breakdown products are extremely persistent in the environment. I recently tested soils in a residential area in Seattle that contained DDT, its breakdown products and other pesticides at concentrations well above levels which are carcinogenic to humans, 40 years after the last application. The soil had to be excavated and hauled away as dangerous waste. DDT is extremely effective as a pesticide but the wide ranging effects on other species and its persistence in the environment make it similar to using a shotgun to kill a mosquito. Sure the mosquito dies, but the blast will also damage other things.
Humans, as the dominant driving environmental force on this planet, seem to have this weird ability to deny that their actions have any effect on the world around them. "The DDT ban was "junk science", "global warming is a hoax", "The ocean's a big place and full of unlimited fish". At some point, we need to realize that our existence is directly linked to the world around us.
*steps off soapbox*
