h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Welcome to Global Warming.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3000725.stm

Hey, it's not all bad. According to a Newsweek article global warming is resulting in better Vins d’Angleterre.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/972931.asp

Count Zero

West Nile Virus can be a nasty bug, but most of the time it's pretty benign. Only a small fraction of the people exposed to it ever get sick at all, and only a small fraction of THOSE people get the severe form of it (encephalitis, etc.). However, if you do have the severe form, you're in deep doo-doo. There is a vaccine for horses but not yet for humans.

There are significantly fewer cases of the disease this year. It seems to do the most damage the first year it moves into an area. After that, the population seems to build up some immunity to it. The virus arrived in the States in the late 1990s and is already in every state except Alaska and Hawaii.

It really does a number on the bird population, especially corvids. There used to be scads of crows and blue jays around here, and now there are very few...

Quizzical the Pedantic

We have a very serious situation here on the upper Texas gulf coast that I'm not sure is being addressed (or that there is much they can or should do to address it). While we've had many cases of WNV and dozens of deaths (I actually know one fellow who got it two years ago but he made a full recovery, described it as a bad cold) I'm very concerned for the bird population here. Just East of Galveston/Trinity bay is the Anahuac Wildlife preserve. More migratory birds stop in this area on their way over or back from South America than any other region in the country (I believe... I know it's WAY up there if not the ultimate). I'm pretty sure they're not doing any serious malathion or other spraying in the area as I just rode my motorcycle through that area and was pelted with dragonflies. Dragonflies feed off mosquitoes and so we like them, but they are also supceptable to the same sprays as the mosquitoes I believe. The area is sparcely populated so they probably do not spray in the area nevertheless. I can't imagine that many types of spraying, unless they are specifically targeted biological sprays, would be advantagous near such an important wildlife preserve anyway.

I wonder what they could do to control the mosquitoes that wouldn't harm the birds and other wildlife. Back in the 'good old days' they sprayed DDT, which nearly wiped out the peregrines and eagles. Nowadays pesticides seem to be more target-specific, but I haven't heard of anything that kills only mosquitoes...

I'd read an article earlier this year that talked about migratory birds spreading WNV into South and Central America. There are places like Costa Rica that are host to some species of parrot that are already endangered.

Nasty mosquitoes...

I left DDT out of the article because there's some serious controversy about how dangerous and debilitating it actually is. There was apparently some seriously bad science involved in getting it banned. Some studies have shown that even without any DDT in the environment eaglet and falcon eggshells were still thin (something the DDT opponents were stating was directly caused by the DDT). Also DDT was blamed for killing fish, but according to some scientists, when DDT contacts water it transforms to a fairly benign substance and should pose little danger to the environment. If it is true that DDT was banned because of false, misleading or faulty science then Millions of people have died from malaria and other diseases needlessly. Unfortunately I couldn't find a source (well I didn't look -that- hard) that was sufficiently objective to justify even bringing the subject up.

Count Zero

Isn't DDT illegal in the states? I am fairly sure it is here.

Anyway, I live on the right side of the Rockies so far, no case from BC that didn't come someone infected elsewhere. Makes you wonder, or at least it makes us in the *Great White North* wonder what other tropical diseases are headed our way...

Ooops, re-read your post. That says *banned* doesn't it zoomer? *hits side of head*

I wouldn't be surprised if PCBs were the root of all the problems that were blamed on DDT, it is pervasive in the environment from the bottom of the sea to the tops of mountains to Antarctica. Scary stuff.

DTT is totally effective when used on bed-nets and walls of dwellings, so banning it is completely counterproductive. But that won't assuage the deep greens: it's better to have a wrong viewpoint prevail totally than to have to go back and re-examine it.

To err is human...

I wonder if it's good to have both sides around, the deep greens as you say and the rabid industrialists. They theoretically should balance out but they seldom do.
Has anyone done any studies to help support bringing back DDT? Or is it still too hot a political tuber for funding? As I mentioned, PCBs scare the bejabbers out of me but little is done about it since it is needed so many ways. I am sitting in my office looking out and down to my back alley and there sits a big old transformer in a pole not 20 meters away. Oh well....

As I said, I couldn't find a sufficiently objective source. The source I read that pointed out all the flaws in the original studies that lead to the banning of DDT was a DDT producer. While the research they pointed to that contradicted the early studies, (not necessarily done by them or on their behalf) sounded fairly thorough, I still have to consider the source. It reminds me of a lot of the differing data regarding greenhouse gases. The 'greens' have used and quoted research that was very bias in their favour to the point of being falacious. They did so knowingly because in their minds, it was better to be false for what they considered a good cause. Unfortunately whether they are right or wrong, using bad science to justify their cause nearly negates any good science because all will be suspect.


Count Zero, a bleeding heart moderate who only wants the truth.

Have a look at something I've just dashed off for the AWW, btw: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F74130?thread=324494. I should have said earlier: an excellent article. Meticulously researched and superbly written. More, please.