Malaria risk threatens the life and health of thousands daily. In high-risk areas, including sub-Saharan Africa, malaria-related deaths happen every thirty seconds. Since the late 1940's, DDT pesticide has been used to eradicate malaria. But over the years it has been blamed for a myriad of life and health issues. In a recent Vision.org article titled, "Mulling Over Müller," life and health writer Alice Abler gives a glimpse into the life of Paul Müller, the Nobel laureate who discovered the high efficiency of DDT and whose reputation was inexorably tied to his most famous -- or infamous -- discovery.
In 1948, Paul Hermann Müller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT as a contact poison against several arthropods. Seven years after Müller's Nobel Prize, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a program to eradicate malaria risk worldwide, using Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT pesticide). The effort was moderately successful and improved the life and health of many. But since the late 1970s, especially in Africa, malaria levels have increased.
Some involved in science and environmental issues are quick to blame global warming for the higher malaria risk through increased vector range and lifespan. But one major factor is often overlooked: DDT, one of the main chemical pesticides used to kill vector mosquitoes that carry malaria, has fallen out of favor and has been, in many cases, banned from use.