Sunday, April 25th is World Malaria Day. While Malaria is not something we think much about here in the U.S. anymore, there are more than 200 million new cases of Malaria each year (the World Health Organization actually says it's closer to 500 million), resulting in 1 million deaths. Most of these occur in Africa and most are young children.
Roll Back Malaria has created a Global Malaria Action Plan based on the specific needs of each affected country and the Pesticide Action Network has also been working with allies worldwide to combat the disease safely.
Unfortunately, several organizations support the spraying of DDT inside homes as a means of stopping the disease. Yes, the same DDT that was banned in the US. The same DDT that has been found to cause cancer, low sperm count, diabetes, endocrine disruption and adversely affect the immune system.
Let's not allow this to happen. Sign PAN's petition by April 22nd and they'll deliver the signatures to President Obama on World Malaria Day. Let's find a way to protect people from Malaria that doesn't involve negative, long term health effects. We would never consider spraying our own homes with DDT. Why is it okay for someone else?
1 comments:
This is very close to my heart. I grew up in Panama and they sprayed DDT from trucks in our neighborhoods to prevent malaria. We would chase the trucks as kids thinking it was funny to see the big clouds. I have various problems now that maybe came from the DDT. Thanks for posting this.
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