THE BENEFITS AND COSTS OF FIGHTING MALARIA.

THE BENEFITS AND COSTS OF FIGHTING MALARIA. Analyzing the benefits and costs of using DDT against malaria is complicated, as this wikipedia article illustrates. For example, DDT is easy to misuse, especially in agriculture; the continuous life cycle of the mosquito in tropical areas makes DDT less effective there; there are increased risks to human fertility; there is damage to bird life; mosquitoes develop resistance to DDT. Yet there were areas of the world, including the United States, where malaria was wiped out and never returned. This article by Malcolm Gladwell describes the intense, house-by-house effort that was used in the effort and singles out Fred Soper, who led the effort. Gladwell’s article is subtitled: “Millions of people owe their lives to Fred Soper. Why isn’t he a hero?” For me, it is that figure of “millions” that impresses me. In weighing up benefits and costs, even after taking into account that DDT would have success only a percentage of the time, the benefits of thousands of fewer deaths and tens of thousands of fewer cases would weigh a lot on one side of the scale—at least enough to be worth of discussion.