Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review Oct. 12, 2000 / 13 Tishrei, 5761

Michelle Malkin

JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Debbie Schlussel
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Fight the anti-pesticide pests

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- THE WEST NILE VIRUS came to my neck of the woods last week, when four dead crows turned up in southern Maryland and Washington, D.C. Am I scared? Yes, the possible presence of infected mosquitoes in my lakeside neighborhood is worrisome. But even more disturbing is the irrational fear-mongering of environmentalists who oppose chemical spraying to kill the bugs.

An outfit called the Maryland Pesticide Network criticized my state's use of permethrin - a common household insecticide -- to stop the disease from taking hold. On its website, the group cites permethrin-related health hazards including "synergistic effects on endocrine disruptions," reported by Tulane University researchers in the journal Science. The study claimed that combinations of pesticides disrupt human hormone systems up to 1,600 times more than individual pesticides alone.

Radical environmentalists wield the study to raise the specter of pesticide-induced brain cancer, breast cancer, and thyroid damage. But the Maryland Pesticide Network recklessly fails to mention that the Tulane researchers were forced to issue a humiliating retraction of their work because scientists from around the world could not replicate the results - and neither could the Tulane team itself.

When their junk science ammunition runs out, the anti-pesticide troops turn to melodramatic anecdotes of harm. "Many people are getting sick" from the repeated spraying of permethrin-related products in New York this year, Sandra Levin, a board member with the New York City Group of the Sierra Club, told the Baltimore Sun. "Many?" The New York enviros publicized the single case of a woman who "lost her voice for six weeks after being sprayed." Was that caused by caustic poison - or by constant kvetching? Staten Island resident Claire Felthem, the "victim," was quoted in several news stories and was miraculously able to find her vocal cords in federal court, where she testified in a lawsuit aimed at stopping the spraying.

Fortunately, the junk litigation didn't fly. U.S. District Court Judge John Martin rejected the plaintiffs' argument that the unintended drift of minuscule particles of the pesticide into the waters surrounding New York City violated the federal Clean Water Act. Martin ruled that the claim "stretches the language of the Clean Water Act beyond its reasonable meaning." Indeed, the enviros' reasoning would lead to banning everything from bubble bath and Drano to hairspray and Lysol.

This weekend, Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader will gather with junk scientists in New York to protest further spraying. This anti-pesticide patrol claims to work for the most vulnerable members of society. But it is children and the elderly who are most at risk of West Nile-related illness that will spread if infected mosquitoes are not controlled. The enviros callously dismiss West Nile symptoms as "mild." Tell that to the seven people who died and the 62 people who became seriously ill last year as a result of encephalitis, meningitis, and other central nervous system ailments caused by West Nile infections. Tell that to the 17 people who contracted similar illnesses this year, and to the family of the 82-year-old Hackensack, N.J., man who became this year's first West Nile casualty just four weeks ago.

Some glib opponents of West Nile spraying advise people to lock themselves indoors and drain their pools (they are silent, of course, on one of the most aggravating sources of standing water: government-created wetlands.) Other environmentalists say they favor "safe and affordable" alternatives to the chemicals being sprayed. The claim is disingenuous at best, deadly at worst. The pesticides used to combat West Nile virus are all federally-approved chemicals that meet safety standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency at levels up to 1,000 times safer than the level at which the EPA finds the pesticide has no adverse effect.

Moreover, these chemicals are among the very alternatives advocated by environmentalists who succeeded in banning previous generations of insecticides, such as DDT. Now, as West Nile virus spreads across the country, threatening both people and wildlife, the anti-pesticide activists want to take away the few remaining weapons against mosquito-borne diseases.

The truth: Environmentalists won't be satisfied until we're back in loincloths, stripped of modern technology, huddled in caves, armed only with oxtail flyswatters and voo-doo chants to keep dangerous bugs away.

***


JWR contributor Michelle Malkin can be reached by clicking here.

Up

10/10/00: Moochers at the multiplex
10/05/00: Pay for your own day care
10/02/00: Not every senior demands a handout
09/27/00: Racial hype at the Olympics
09/25/00: Watch the other Washington
09/20/00: Textbook case of media arrogance
09/18/00: New York: Land of medical pork
09/13/00: Voices from the womb
09/11/00: No cure for generational pain
09/08/00: Notes on a West Coast wilding
09/06/00: Race matters at Washington Post
09/01/00: For those who labor 24/7
08/28/00: There's something about Rudy
08/25/00: A conservative case against Napster
08/22/00: Death Row Marv mocks justice
08/18/00: The party of Maxine Waters
08/14/00: "Make-A-Wish" shoots down dreams
08/10/00: Who will stop Bill Lann Lee?
08/07/00: Emily Dickinson's lesson for rude drivers
08/03/00: Leave the slogans behind
07/31/00: Hey, GM: Build cars, not quotas
07/28/00: Stop milking The Juice
07/24/00: Silencing Jeff Jacoby
07/21/00: Score another one for TV execs who want to keep us brain-dead
07/17/00: Can somebody say McStupid?
07/12/00: Beware of Ugly Building Syndrome
07/10/00: The miracle of a lead pencil
07/07/00: Partying on the people’s dime
06/29/00: When "Indians" exploit their own
06/23/00: Kids in a public school daze
06/21/00: Fed up with Fannie and Freddie
06/19/00: D.C.'s gag order for Christians
06/16/00: Dads, daughters, and PETA's spoilsports
06/13/00: Tune out Eminem's pitiful "poetry"
06/07/00: "Pained" Dem leader Torricelli deserves to feel some; Why hasn't he?
06/05/00: Tom Green's hidden health-care lesson
06/01/00: Farming out the pork
05/30/00: The perils of medical quackery
05/26/00: Awarding medals by race is a disgrace
05/22/00: Have Simon & Schuster execs lost their minds!?
05/17/00: Sports plebes vs. plutocrats
05/15/00: Whitewashing Red China's record
05/12/00: Our mothers' hands
05/08/00: Focus on the real Waco
05/05/00: An Internet victim's sad story
05/03/00: Phony pooh-bahs of journalism
05/01/00: Zoo tragedy triggers dumb reaction
04/24/00: Ecoterrorists on the loose
04/19/00: Beware of Elian's psychobabblers
04/17/00: The truth about Erin Brockovich
04/13/00: In defense of an armed citizenry
04/10/00: Playing hardball with taxpayers
04/06/00: Read W.'s lips: More new spending
04/04/00: The liberal media-in-training
03/31/00: Sticking it to the children
03/28/00: Declaring war on HOV lanes
03/22/00: Clinton and the Echo Boomers
03/17/00: Is Bush a Liddy Dole Republican?
03/13/00: Katie and the politics of disease
03/10/00: Maria H, Granny D, and the media Z's
03/07/00: Bubba Van Winkle wakes up
03/03/00: Double standard for day traders?
02/28/00: Sluts and nuts --- and our daughters
02/24/00: Zoning out religious freedom
02/15/00: The Baby Brain Boondoggle
02/10/00: Buddhist temple untouchables
02/08/00: CDC: Caught Devouring Cash
02/04/00: Hillary's poisoned poster child
02/01/00: Corporate welfare on ice
01/28/00: The silly sound of silence
01/26/00: The Old Media meltdown
01/20/00: The pied pipers of KidCare
01/18/00: Our imperious judiciary
01/14/00: Tune out Columbine chorus
01/12/00: Dying to be an American
01/10/00: Time for smokers' revolt?
12/30/99: Reading, writing, PlayStation?
12/27/99: Fight money-grubbing mallrats
12/23/99: Christmas for Cornilous Pixley
12/20/99: Who will help the Hmong?
12/16/99: Shame on corn-fed politicians
12/13/99: EPA vs. the American Dream
12/09/99: Look behind the Pokemon curtain
12/06/99: Amateur hour in Seattle
11/30/99: Stop the Ritalin racketeers
11/23/99: Welfare for a sports fatcat
11/19/99: Jeb Bush's political ploy of the week
11/16/99: Ben & Jerry serve up junk science
11/12/99: A monumental waste of our veterans' resources
11/10/99: Tax-and-spend schizophrenia
11/05/99: Spooky Guy Haunts the Capital
11/02/99: Mourning the loss of the last Liberty Tree
10/27/99: AOL goes AWOL on parents
10/22/99: The persecution of Harry Potter
10/20/99: Don't doctor the law
10/14/99: The trouble with kids today
10/12/99: Pro-animal, pro-abortion, anti-speech?
10/07/99: Beltway press corps needs more skunks
09/30/99: ESPN overlooks athlete of faith, grace, and guts
09/27/99: Personal freedom going up in smoke
09/15/99: Farewell, "Miss" America
09/10/99: Will George W. work for a color-blind America?
09/03/99: Feminization of gun debate drowns out sober analysis
08/27/99: America is abundant land of equal-opportunity insult
08/10/99: Protect the next generation from diversity do-goodism
08/04/99: Sweepstakes vs. state lottery: double standards on gambling
07/21/99: "True-life tales from the Thin Red Line" (or "Honor those who sacrificed their lives for peace")
07/21/99: Reading, 'Riting, and Raunchiness?
07/14/99: Journalists' group-think is not unity
06/30/99: July Fourth programming for the Springer generation
06/25/99: Speechless in Seattle
06/15/99: Making a biblical argument against federal death taxes

© 2000, Creators Syndicate