Reference: Antarctic melt poisoning penguins, Bangkok Post, May 29, 2008

When DDT almost wiped out mosquito borne diseases it was considered a good thing and it's inventor was awarded the Nobel Prize. In the hysterical aftermath of the book "Silent Spring"m however, environmental activists said that DDT was a bad thing because its rampant use was said to be poisoning wildlife. A worldwide ban was quickly imposed. The ban made it possible for malaria, dengue, and other mosquito borne diseases to make a comeback. Last year the WHO decided that DDT was a good thing after all and lifted its worldwide ban as a way of combating these lethal diseases. Within a year of this action, the environmentalists have found new evidence that DDT is a bad thing because melting glaciers in Antarctica releases DDT that was trapped in the ice and poisons penguins (Antarctic melt poisoning penguins, Bangkok Post, May 29, 2008). Seventy years after its invention we still can't decide whether DDT is a good thing or a bad thing.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand