Idol Gives Back and Malaria

While watching Idol Gives Back tonight, I saw a heartbreaking segment on malaria.

Forest Whitaker and his wife were in Africa drawing attention to the disease and the millions of lives it claims.

One child dies of malaria every 30 seconds. The truly tragic thing is that the disease is preventable.

Mosquito nets at $10 a piece are touted as the solution. But there are more weapons available than nets to prevent the suffering.

Once again, I'm reminded of Rachel Carson and her legacy.
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From the 1998 PBS Frontline report, "Fooling with Mother Nature":

On the walls of the US vice president's office, you might expect to see framed photos of political giants past and present. Amidst his collection, however, Al Gore cherishes a picture of a biologist from Western Pennsylvania - Rachel Carson, author of "Silent Spring." Why does an unassuming scientist lay claim to this space? "For me personally," says Gore in his introduction to the 1992 edition of her book, "Silent Spring had a profound impact ... Indeed, Rachel Carson was one of the reasons that I became so conscious of the environment and so involved with environmental issues ... Carson has had as much or more effect on me than any, and perhaps than all of them together."

Yes, Gore wants to be the Rachel Carson of the new millenium, maybe more than he wanted to be President of the United States. He wants to follow in his hero's footsteps.

That's probably doubtful, but it can't be denied that Gore seems to be displaying far more passion for the environment than he was able to muster for the 2000 presidential campaign.

I think he wants that to be his legacy -- Al Gore, savior of the planet.

It bugs me that Rachel Carson continues to maintain hero status among environmentalists.

The fact is Carson relied on bad science to spur the modern environmental movement.

So many of Carson's claims have been refuted.

Read a sampling of the debunking of Silent Spring.

Why The Insecticide DDT Should Never Have Been Banned

Killing People - The banning of DDT and radical environmentalists

Malaria Foundation International

The Lies of Rachel Carson

Bring Back DDT, and Science With It!

The latter is a 2002 piece by Marjorie Mazel Hecht. It provides a concise overview of Carson's illegitimate assertions and the consequences of the hysteria that she launched.

The 1972 U.S. ban on DDT is responsible for a genocide 10 times larger than that for which we sent Nazis to the gallows at Nuremberg. It is also responsible for a menticide which has already condemned one entire generation to a dark age of anti-science ignorance, and is now infecting a new one.

The lies and hysteria spread to defend the DDT ban are typical of the irrationalist, anti-science wave which has virtually destroyed rational forms of discourse in our society. If you want to save science—and human lives—the fight to bring back DDT, now being championed by that very electable candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination, Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., had better be at the top of your agenda.

Sixty million people have died needlessly of malaria, since the imposition of the 1972 ban on DDT, and hundreds of millions more have suffered from this debilitating disease. The majority of those affected are children. Of the 300 to 500 million new cases of malaria each year, 200 to 300 million are children, and malaria now kills one child every 30 seconds. Ninety percent of the reported cases of malaria are in Africa, and 40 percent of the world’s population, inhabitants of tropical countries, are threatened by the increasing incidence of malaria.

...The campaign to ban DDT got its start with the publication of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring in 1962. Carson’s popular book was a fraud. She played on people’s emotions, and to do so, she selected and falsified data from scientific studies... .

Does that sound a bit extreme?

Are you thinking that I'm citing sources that lack credibility?

Do you need a source that you can identify as enlightened, sophisticated, and acceptable to the liberal mindset?

OK.

Read "What the World Needs Now Is DDT."

It's by Tina Rosenberg and was published in The New York Times on April 11, 2004.

It appears that Rachel Carson, Al Gore's inspiration, sparked a movement that cost millions of lives.

The fact is Gore's hero had a role in millions of preventable deaths from malaria.

This reveals that the environmental movement is capable of producing catastrophes rather than preventing them.

I believe that we are stewards of God's creation and must care for the earth. I believe that we are called to protect the environment and not abuse the gift that it is. However, that goal cannot take precedence over caring for human life.

What was the cost of an environmental movement run amok?

Millions of precious lives.
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All three presidential contenders taped segments and were scheduled to appear on Idol Gives Back. Didn't happen last night.

Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain made taped appeals for charity on a special edition of “American Idol” on Wednesday night that didn’t make the cut. The telethon for needy children around the world entitled “Idol Gives Back” drew the likes of Fergie, Bono, Brad Pitt, Mariah Carey and Miley Cyrus, and went too long. The candidates’ contributions were kicked back to Thursday night’s episode.

Oh, spare us.

I think it would be better to leave Hillary and Obama and McCain off the show entirely.

Why should Idol offer them free campaign commercials on the broadcast?