Rachel Carson: Mass Murderer?

According to this disconcerting article: Millions are dying in Asia and Africa due to malaria, which is spread by mosquitoes. DDT cheaply and effectively kills mosquitoes, and allegations of its dangerousness are exaggerated or unfounded, yet we're prevented from using it. Excerpts:

DDT not only saved lives and prevented debilitating illnesses, it laid a more stable foundation for development and wealth creation in malaria areas of Africa and Asia. DDT's effectiveness against malaria was dramatically demonstrated and is really beyond dispute.

Then, in 1962, Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" created a worldwide scare about DDT, which she claimed was a danger to wildlife. Much of her so-called scientific basis for a DDT ban was soon proven either wrong or exaggerated, and the 1972 edition of her book admitted as much.

No study has been able to link the use of DDT with any negative human health impact, even though sprayers have worked with the chemical many hours a day.

Nevertheless, contrary to expert testimony that DDT was not harmful to humans, animals or the environment, in a raw exercise of arbitrary power in 1972 the Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT, and it has continued to be banned in most of the world. Since then, more than 50 million people have died from malaria. . .

Another mosquito-borne disease, West Nile virus, which was unheard of in the United States prior to 1998, has come to our country from Africa. It now infects tens of thousands of people in 21 states, and many have died.

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch have just discovered that mosquitoes can pass West Nile virus to each other much faster than previously thought. This is what caused the disease to spread rapidly across North America despite earlier predictions that it would spread more slowly or even die out.