Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
Two related items on two different coasts:
Item: Bedbug infestations are soaring in New York City. It is now the most bedbug-infested city in the United States. But, wait, we're talking about bedbugs? In 2010? Isn't that a little retro?
Item: There's a whooping cough epidemic in Los Angeles. Nine infants have died already this year. But, wait, we're talking about whooping cough? In 2010? Isn't that a little retro?
There's a way, of course, to eradicate bedbugs:
Bedbugs, a common household pest for centuries, all but vanished in the 1940s and '50s with the widespread use of DDT. But DDT was banned in 1972 as too toxic to wildlife, especially birds. Since then, the bugs have developed resistance to chemicals that replaced DDT.
Also, exterminators have fewer weapons in their arsenal than they did just a few years ago because of a 1996 Clinton-era law that requires older pesticides to be re-evaluated based on more stringent health standards. The re-evaluations led to the restrictions on propoxur and other pesticides.
And there's a way, of course, to immunize your children agains whooping cough:
The only way to break that cycle is to vaccinate everyone of all ages, said Dr. James Cherry, professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Some doctors relate this recent rise in cases to the parents who have shied away from vaccinating children due to fears, albeit unfounded, that there is a connection between vaccines and autism. Dr. Jennifer Shu, a pediatrician at Children's Medical Group in Atlanta, Georgia, thinks this is a primary factor in the resurgence of whooping cough.
A 2009 study in Pediatrics found that parental refusal of whooping cough vaccination was associated with children's risk of pertussis infection. Previous research had shown a steady increase of parents who refuse immunization in the last decade.
Clusters of unvaccinated people contribute to outbreaks, but in the case of whooping cough, the cycles will continue until a much greater number of people of all ages are immunized, Cherry said.
So we don't use DDT anymore, even though its use would eradicate bedbugs and save hundreds of thousands of lives in Africa. And we don't immunize our children -- at least in Los Angeles -- even though whooping cough vaccine is safe, and a whooping cough epidemic is deadly.
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Jul '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
How this relates to Herschel!
In Seattle there was a little clash of Environmentalist vs. Environmentalist. Seems that in the puget sound, at the H.D. Chittenden Locks a Sea Lion learned that Salmon and Steelhead are bottlenecked on thier trips to spawning grounds.
The dammage done by the Sea Lions was devestating.
So, the politically correct swung right into gear.
Sea Lions must not be killed, so they captured Hershel and Re-Located him.
He Returned! With Friends.
So, they used underwater subsonic noises to scare him off. Scared more fish than Sea Lions.
How about a model of an orca!
Nope.
After 7 years of politically correct failures to control the problem they finally tried the Conservative solution that had been suggested to them from the start.
They shot the Sea Lions.
Guess what?
Problem Solved, at 1/1000th the cost.
Lesson Learned?
Politically Correct Solutions DON'T WORK!!!!!!
Aug '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
The enviromental movement worldwide, and our politicians willful compliance, is responsible for millions of deaths the world over. DDT was banned without any scientific evidence of any harmful effects, our politicians merely wanted to make the environmental lobby groups happy. There is very good article at Mise
Jul '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
It's amazing that as we become more technologically advanced, we seem to be losing common sense as a society. How can we have regressed to the point we're needlessly suffering from diseases all but eradicated a generation ago?
Jul '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
Rob Long:
So we don't use DDT anymore, even though its use would eradicate bedbugs and save hundreds of thousands of lives in Africa. And we don't immunize our children -- at least in Los Angeles -- even though whooping cough vaccine is safe, and a whooping cough epidemic is deadly. ·
Who has time to re-eliminate early 20th century problems? We have salt & trans-fat overconsumption to solve.
May '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
I took an evening class at Cleveland State on landscaping chemicals--fert, herbicides, pesticides--and the gruff old-timer teaching the class started off the first day with the line, "DDT made this country great." Love that guy.
And BTW, that Silent Spring lady killed more people than Stalin; less than Mao.
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
Mise ... ?
Jul '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
Just read the other day that the Rachel Carson State Office Building in Harrisburg, PA has earned the ENERGY STAR star for 2009. Untold dead from malaria in Africa, bedbugs in New York City, whooping cough in LA, who cares, eh? The progressive beat goes on.
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
The anti-GMO lobby has a lot to answer for, too. Jaydee, I liked your comment a lot until they shot Herschel. That is sad. Like when they shot Ole Yeller.
Sep '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
I wonder how long it would take for Dow to bring up a DDT line. And would they? is perhaps more interesting since even Dow may have been taken over by enviros.
Jul '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
DDT is still used in India and for vector control.
Jul '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
Good question. Unless Congress exempted it from future liability, it would be suicidal to try. Asbestos/Mesothelioma ring a bell?
Edited on Sep 25, 2010 at 10:06amJun '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
Nature is not sweet or kind. Nature is a cage match. Nature cheers just as loud when the mountain lion eats the hiker, or a virus destroys the lungs of a five-year-old boy. All living things are equal in Nature's eyes. It's very "fair" that way.
Jun '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
We have the same problem in this area with Canada geese, which ironically are not native to the area. My solution: buckshot, butchers, and the food bank. Oh! and goose liver pate.
Sep '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
Ragnarok
Good question. Unless Congress exempted it from future liability, it would be suicidal to try. Asbestos/Mesothelioma ring a bell? · Sep 25 at 10:05am
Edited on Sep 25 at 10:06 am
Great point! Hadn't thought of that. You've got to wonder if anything short of a constitutional amendment can stop the flood of lawsuits.
Jul '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
it's all about Disney and Beatrix Potter, really. The enviros will tell you that large predators like bears and cougars and wolves NEVER ever attack humans, it's a 'rule.' And if they DO attack and eat humans, well it is the human's fault. Or the animal is sick or unhealthy (because of humans of course.) In Britain, the cities are overrun with foxes (who suffer from mange). People are told to 'just get along with them', and allow them to raise their kittens in peace in the backyard, because they are cute and are no problem, except maybe to your pets, but hey, life goes on. But then this spring, a fox went UPSTAIRS inside a house and attacked (with the intent to EAT) a couple of babies therein.
There is a good book, "Beast in the Garden" about this.
And now, babies are dead, having caught whooping cough from their older siblings who brought it home from school, like homework, I guess.
May '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
The city of Harrisburg has said that it will not make a $3.3 million municipal bond payment, a decision that could move the Pennsylvania capital closer to bankruptcy. Last week the city government sent letters to creditors warning that Harrisburg would not be able to meet the payment deadline. After saying that he would not help Harrisburg out of its financial crisis, Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor Ed Rendell announced Sunday that the state would speed up payments owed the city.
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
I live in the hotbed, hothead world of "I'm not vaccinating my child." Which is the super Libby Westside of Los Angeles. And I find it repugnant. Time and time again they prove that vaccines don't lead to Autism (genetics usually do) and serious side effects from vaccines are negligible. But these are narcissistic people who think if it's going to happen, it'll happen to ME. (Lead by such deep thinkers as Jenny McCarthy.) Meanwhile they endanger ALL our kids. I always counter priviledged parents when they moan, "It's so hard to raise kids these day" with the following: "Yeah, well try raising them back in 1940 when the kid next door who just played with your kid is in an iron lung from polio and his other best friend just died from whooping cough." Well I guess the good old days are back. Great post, Rob.
Edited on Sep 25, 2010 at 12:05pmAug '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Mise ... ? · Sep 25 at 9:36am
Probably the [Ludwig von] Mises Institute, a mandatory bookmark for anyone interested in economics and how it relates to the world around us.
He may have been referencing this article, "The Toxicity of Environmentalism", from a few years back that is right on point. Brad, confirm/deny?
May '10
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
I need to address this swine flu before tackling the Legionnaire's disease, which is being helped along by rickets, beri-beri and the Bloody Flux.
On the vaccine thing, I must reluctantly blame Jenny McCarthy (who could've been great in the Leg Chair, dammit), and Imus's wife, who is a total nagging shrew. Sure she has to look after his health, but when she's giving him lectures for using non-organic honey in his herbal tea, it's time to cry foul.
Re: Bedbugs and Whooping Cough
What always amazes me is that the left thinks that conservatives are "anti-science." Presumably because a lot of conservatives are religious, and a lot of religious people believe that God created heaven and earth, and that life begins at conception, and that creating stem cells for research is immoral. All of which are awfully hard things to prove or disprove scientifically. What's not hard to prove scientifically is that DDT is almost entirely harmless and would save hundreds of thousands of lives in Africa, as well as making a lot of itchy people in New York a lot less so. What's not hard to prove scientifically is that vaccinations against infectious diseases -- especially childhood diseases -- do not cause autism, no matter what some starlets claim on CNN. Who, exactly, are the anti-science, Luddite, willfully ignorant nuts, again? What's not hard to prove