DDT is indeed a problem, but its first worries are now not entirely true.

In the 90s it was discovered that fruitflies now can metabolize DDT, so it can be broken down (and still used in larger concentrations to kill them)

Not advocating DDT use, just a FYI. It ws thought to "never be broken down"

No need to be that dramatic about it, just make sure you've had a safe amount of gin and tonic!

Sober, but I love tonic water that was called quinine tonic water when I was younger, but nowadays tonic water usually has little if any quinine, and citrus and high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar.

Where do you find tonic water that doesn't have quinine in it?

>> nowadays tonic water usually has little if any quinine

In the US, The FDA limits how much can be added, https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/what-is-quinine-in-to....

"Per FDA ruling, tonic water can contain only 83 milligrams of quinine per liter. The typical medicinal dosage of quinine is around 500 milligrams, and in the case of malaria, it is taken multiple times a day"

Schweppes has 67.9 mg/L of quinine.

I lived in SE Asia for over 7 years with close to 2 years of living in remote areas with dengue and malaria. I drank my Schweppes tonic water because I am sober and enjoy the bitterness, and it gave me some peace of mind that I was keeping quinine in my system at any level.

Having cobra anti-venom was a lot more important where the nearest trauma center could be 12 hours away by vehicle due to winding, mountainous, and difficult roads before hitting a real paved road.

When I was growing up my father had a couple of cans of insect repellent that contained DDT. He kept them in the freezer so they'd last longer. He honestly thought it was the good stuff and opposed the ban. I remember seeing them in 1975, they were Olive Drab Green cans, so probably Army Surplus.

It absolutely was the good stuff. Unfortunately it weakened the eggs of large birds resulting in near extinction, including the bald eagle.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/145496/#:~:text=Chronic%20in....

I wonder how many people who died of malaria would still be alive today had DDT never been banned.

Tough to say. Not all countries have total bans on DDT, and even the Stockholm Convention exempted vector control from the ban on certain organochlorine compounds. In any case, DDT-resistant mosquitoes were already starting to occur in the 1960s due to the unrestricted spraying. Spraying has mostly continued as indoor residual spraying, which still seems to be quite effective.

In the West nobody dies from malaria because we have a healthcare system. So DDT is unnecessary.

Africa is another matter entirely. For centuries no white man made it further than the beach until an effective medicine was invented.