Rustle the Leaf and DDT
If you don't already know about Rustle the Leaf, check him and his little acorn buddy out. The weekly eco-comic was created by Dan Wright and Dave Ponce as an environmental educational tool. Along with the strip, the creators also include some thoughtful commentary - this week the topic is pesticides, particularly DDT.
The DDT topic reminded me of an article I read a while back in The Ecologist magazine, that shows strong evidence linking polio to pesticides - not a virus. (Here's a link to the full article by Janine Roberts 1/5/04, The Ecologist)
Below is the article summary:
Polio: the virus and the vaccine
There is a rarely mentioned epidemic raging in the world today, one that is crippling children in more than 100 countries. In extreme cases the disease starts with a fever, which is followed by vomiting, delirium and spreading pain. Within days of being infected, the motor-neurone cells in victims’ spines cease to function properly. Pain intensifies as victims’ limbs are paralysed. In the very worst cases, their chests are also paralysed, which prevents them from breathing. Even when the children recover, the illness often returns in later life. Health authorities say it has no cure. The number of cases increased by over 250 per cent worldwide between 1996 and 2003 1. It is a disease with a long history and many names. The condition’s official name now is ‘Acute Flaccid Paralysis’ but it was once known as ‘infantile paralysis’/ ‘poliomyelitis’ (polio for short). Some people called it ‘the crippler’. A shot in the dark Polio is a devastating disease; the preferred method for fighting it is vaccination. Yet there is a mass of historic evidence that suggests it is not caused by a virus but by industrial and agricultural pollution.
DDT is currently used to control mosquitos (and thus controlling malaria) in many African countries (Africa Fighting Malaria is just one organization that lists DDT as an effective way of fighting malaria.) It would be interesting to see if there is a positive correllation between the use of DDT today and polio cases as there was in the early part of the 20th century in the United States.
The DDT topic reminded me of an article I read a while back in The Ecologist magazine, that shows strong evidence linking polio to pesticides - not a virus. (Here's a link to the full article by Janine Roberts 1/5/04, The Ecologist)
Below is the article summary:
Polio: the virus and the vaccine
There is a rarely mentioned epidemic raging in the world today, one that is crippling children in more than 100 countries. In extreme cases the disease starts with a fever, which is followed by vomiting, delirium and spreading pain. Within days of being infected, the motor-neurone cells in victims’ spines cease to function properly. Pain intensifies as victims’ limbs are paralysed. In the very worst cases, their chests are also paralysed, which prevents them from breathing. Even when the children recover, the illness often returns in later life. Health authorities say it has no cure. The number of cases increased by over 250 per cent worldwide between 1996 and 2003 1. It is a disease with a long history and many names. The condition’s official name now is ‘Acute Flaccid Paralysis’ but it was once known as ‘infantile paralysis’/ ‘poliomyelitis’ (polio for short). Some people called it ‘the crippler’. A shot in the dark Polio is a devastating disease; the preferred method for fighting it is vaccination. Yet there is a mass of historic evidence that suggests it is not caused by a virus but by industrial and agricultural pollution.
DDT is currently used to control mosquitos (and thus controlling malaria) in many African countries (Africa Fighting Malaria is just one organization that lists DDT as an effective way of fighting malaria.) It would be interesting to see if there is a positive correllation between the use of DDT today and polio cases as there was in the early part of the 20th century in the United States.
posted by Amy Marpman at
06:33
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1 Comments:
A shot in the dark Polio is a devastating disease; the preferred method for fighting it is vaccination. Yet there is a mass of historic evidence that suggests it is not caused by a virus but by industrial and agricultural pollution.
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