At least in Mozambique, it seems that DDT have met resistance both from the West and (parts of) local population.
This report from 2000 from BMJ (British Medical Journal) blames foreign donors, although it does not provide any references for its figures:
It is possible that DDT will be used again in Mozambique. Its use there was stopped several decades ago, because 80% of the country’s health budget came from donor funds, and donors refused to allow the use of DDT.
But environmental concerns are only a part of the whole picture, and, according to Mozambique’s chief of infectious disease control, a smaller one.
DDT is used in indoor residual spraying (IRS) which, along with insecticide treated mosquito nets and Artemisinin Combination Therapies, is one of the three main interventions promoted by World Health Organization.
But due to the fact that it has unaesthetic side effects and cannot be done everywhere, in some countries it became associated with social issues:
For IRS to be effective, at least 80% of homes and barns in an area must be sprayed,[4] and if enough residents refuse spraying, the effectiveness of the whole program can be jeopardized. Many residents resist spraying of DDT in particular. This is due to a variety of factors, including its smell[10] and the stains it leaves on the walls.[10][11][12][13] While that stain makes it easier to check whether the room has been sprayed, it causes some villagers to resist the spraying of their homes[13][14][15] or to resurface the wall, which eliminates the residual insecticidal effect.[12][15] Pyrethroid insecticides are reportedly more acceptable since they do not leave visible residues on the walls.[13]
In addition, DDT is not suitable for this type of spraying in Western-style plastered or painted walls, only traditional dwellings with unpainted walls made of mud, sticks, dung, thatch, clay, or cement.[10][15][16] As rural areas of South Africa become more prosperous, there is a shift towards Western style housing, leaving fewer homes suitable for DDT spraying, and necessitating the use of alternative insecticides.[15]
Other villagers object to DDT spraying because it does not kill cockroaches[13] or bedbugs;[12] rather, it excites such pests making them more active,[10][11][14][15] so that often the use of another insecticide is additionally required.[15] Pyrethroids such as deltamethrin and lambdacyhalothrin, on the other hand, are more acceptable to residents because they kill these nuisance insects as well as mosquitoes.[13] DDT has also been known to kill beneficial insects, such as wasps that kill caterpillars that, unchecked, destroy thatched roofs.[14]
As a result, Mozambique’s chief of infectious disease control, Avertino Barreto, says that resistance to DDT spraying is “homegrown”, not due to “pressure from environmentalists”. “They only want us to use DDT on poor, rural black people,” he says. “So whoever suggests DDT use, I say, ‘Fine, I’ll start spraying in your house first.’”[10]
Some Westerners also pattern match it to social issues, and not only environmental ones.
Other villagers object to DDT spraying because it does not kill cockroaches[13] or bedbugs;[12]
I’m not sure I believe that. At least residual DDT seems to have done a good job killing bedbugs in the States, at least until it final completely “washed out” of the system a couple of years ago.
Also wikipedia is notoriously unreliable on any vaguely political topic, probably more so then well-known explicitly political topics. The latter attract enough attention that the NPOV policy is actually applied, whereas the former wind up getting “adopted” by some mind-killed administrator with an axe to grind.
At least in Mozambique, it seems that DDT have met resistance both from the West and (parts of) local population.
This report from 2000 from BMJ (British Medical Journal) blames foreign donors, although it does not provide any references for its figures:
But environmental concerns are only a part of the whole picture, and, according to Mozambique’s chief of infectious disease control, a smaller one.
DDT is used in indoor residual spraying (IRS) which, along with insecticide treated mosquito nets and Artemisinin Combination Therapies, is one of the three main interventions promoted by World Health Organization. But due to the fact that it has unaesthetic side effects and cannot be done everywhere, in some countries it became associated with social issues:
Some Westerners also pattern match it to social issues, and not only environmental ones.
I’m not sure I believe that. At least residual DDT seems to have done a good job killing bedbugs in the States, at least until it final completely “washed out” of the system a couple of years ago.
Also wikipedia is notoriously unreliable on any vaguely political topic, probably more so then well-known explicitly political topics. The latter attract enough attention that the NPOV policy is actually applied, whereas the former wind up getting “adopted” by some mind-killed administrator with an axe to grind.