Malaria und DDT-Verbot

Die englische Ausgabe des National Geographic Magazins veröffentlichte vor kurzem einen ausführlichen Artikel über die Malariaproblematik in Afrika. Interessant ist hierbei, welche Rolle das Verbot von DDT bei der explosionsartigen Ausbreitung der Malariamücken seit den 60er-Jahren spielte. Aufgrund einer Kampagne von Umweltaktivisten wurde DDT verboten und die Malaria kehrte mit großer Brutalität zurück. Hier ein Zitat aus dem NG-Artikel:

The second innovation was equally miraculous. Swiss chemist Paul Müller discovered the insecticidal power of a compound called dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, better known as DDT. Müller was awarded the 1948 Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery, for nothing in the history of insect control had ever worked like DDT. Microscopic amounts could kill mosquitoes for months, long enough to disrupt the cycle of malaria transmission. It lasted twice as long as the next best insecticide, and cost one-fourth as much . (....)
The global eradication effort did achieve some notable successes. Malaria was virtually wiped out in much of the Caribbean and South Pacific, from the Balkans, from Taiwan. In Sri Lanka, there were 2.8 million cases of malaria in 1946, and a total of 17 in 1963. In India, malaria deaths plummeted from 800,000 a year to scarcely any. (....)
Soon after the program collapsed, mosquito control lost access to its crucial tool, DDT. The problem was overuse—not by malaria fighters but by farmers, especially cotton growers, trying to protect their crops. The spray was so cheap that many times the necessary doses were sometimes applied. The insecticide accumulated in the soil and tainted watercourses. Though nontoxic to humans, DDT harmed peregrine falcons, sea lions, and salmon. In 1962 Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, documenting this abuse and painting so damning a picture that the chemical was eventually outlawed by most of the world for agricultural use. Exceptions were made for malaria control, but DDT became nearly impossible to procure. "The ban on DDT," says Gwadz of the National Institutes of Health, "may have killed 20 million children."

Hier sieht man mal wieder, wie gute Vorsätze sich in schreckliche Realität verwandeln können. Inzwischen ist der Artikel wohl auch in der deutschen National Geographic erschienen.