Posted on 04/25/2009 4:31:34 PM PDT by CMoran325
Yeah, it was a big joke when there was a race for the first to have a millions "tweeps" -- twitter friends. But Ashton Kutcher won the crown and he made a silly situation mean a lot more when he promised to make a big donation to help fight malaria.
Malaria infects 300-500 million people worldwide annually, according to UNICEF statistics. Nearly 1 million people die each year from the mosquito-borne disease. The majority of deaths are to children in sub-Saharan Africa.
You can read more about what Christian organizations are trying to do at this link:
http://everydaychristian.com/news/story/1787/
and you can make a donation to World Vision's drive to buy protective netting at:
I'm (going to be like) Ashton Kutcher -- and I'm awesome! You can be awesome too! Make a donation today!
I forget how to do a live link — here is a great video from the Night of Nets campaign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JyvDd7vFCI
rachel carson and the ddt ban has put her in the top 5 mass killers (albeit in her case unintentional) of the 20th century.
small plastic cars, ban on ddt, cap and trade, gorebal warming hoax. enviro whackos don’t care how many people they kill as long as they feel good and “save the planet.
The problem with the scourge of malaria is one Rachel Carson, the “patron devil” of the environmental movement. She managed to get DDT banned worldwide on very flimsy and faulty evidence. We felt good belief that we were doing something good for bald eagles and did not consider the 200 million people would would die since Carson wrote “Silent Spring”. I guess the silent spring is mainly silent because of those 200 million dead people not making any noise.
When they succeeded in having DDT outlawed, our environmentalists doomed millions of people to death from malaria. Now they want to buy mosquito nets for dying Africans. How precious!!!
And while mosquito nets are a start, they are by no means complete protection. Further, a person should not be on prophalaxis all their life because those meds are not safe over the long term for a human and because the malaria parasite will become resistant to those meds making the meds ineffective.
Therefore, the better method is to spray against the mosquitos and the best way to do that is to use DDT.
ummm...
Was I mistaken in the group I chose?
Did I mistake that a Christian org is actually a leftist wacko group?
I understand the argument against Rachel Carson, and that DDT can be used effectively — but in the meantime, let’s get the nets! DDT can’t get every last mosquito...
Wanna stop malaria? Bring back DDT.
Yes, by all means, get the nets! There are some Christian left groups. But it doesn’t hurt to use mosquito nets.
It is just my experience that they are only good while people are under them and at the time in the evening when the anapholes (or however you spell that darn critter!) mosquito, most people aren’t under the nets. When it is very dark, those mosquitos are less active and become active again at dawn.
Further, the nets are easily torn and most people don’t mend them as soon as possible. People are lazy in that regard. I have seen that type of mosquito at every hour of the day when I’ve been awake. So while giving someone a mosquito net will help, it is my opinion that the nets only help a little bit.
Malaria eradication, imo, needs a multi-pronged and simultaneous approach. This would consist of nets, eradication of mosquito breeding grounds (as much as is possible), spraying against mosquitos, education as to causes and treatments of malaria, dressing to avoid mosquito bites, good nutrition and good sleeping habits, and expeditious treatment of malaria (iow, NOT waiting until you have a bad case, but treat it as soon as malaria is suspected).
I have heard rumors of innoculation against malaria. I have not yet been told by a credible that such is available or even in development. How would you vacinate against a parasite?
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