^®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

WHO Recommends Indoor DDT Use To Stop Malaria
The World Health Organization recommends that DDT be used indoors to kill the mosquitoes that cause malaria. Malaria kills an estimated 1,000,000 people per year in Africa alone. The WHO has concluded that DDT use is the most effective way to prevent these deaths. The United States and other nations banned use of DDT several decades ago because there were concerns that the pesticide adversely affects birds and other wildlife. The WHO has concluded that the “amount of DDT used for disease vector control is negligible compared with that used in agriculture.” Also, “when strictly used indoors as recommended by WHO, DDT poses little if any environmental threat.”