DDT Re-Introduction Bill (reintroduced)

[Gabu]

At the request of Sen. Sam Spade, the following legislation is reintroduced:

DDT Re-Introduction Bill

1. All prohibitions on the export of DDT from the United States to foreign nations shall be lifted.

2. Nations against which the United States has levied sanctions shall still be prohibited from importing DDT.

I hereby open debate on this bill.

[Colin]

I have nothing wrong with this bill. The effects of DDT have been overblown by enviromentalists and new studies have shown that DDT is much less harmful than most of its detractors say it does.

[WMS]

To the surprise of some, I support this bill. I'm not entirely trusting of the greenies, either.


Here's the link to John Ford's post that had the link to an article on this.

[Nym90]

I'm on the fence on this one, though leaning against. Anyone want to try to persuade me one way or the other?

[Platypus]

I wonder why we continue to produce the stuff if we're not prepared to sell it, and what other nations feel about us exporting to them?

I would like to know more about the current reasons why Atlasia doesn't export at present, and if it is too dangerous to do so, why we continue to produce and use it here.

[The Duke]

I wonder why we continue to produce the stuff if we're not prepared to sell it, and what other nations feel about us exporting to them?

I would like to know more about the current reasons why Atlasia doesn't export at present, and if it is too dangerous to do so, why we continue to produce and use it here.

We hardly produce any because its illegal to sell it here or export it abroad.

DDT was banned because a woman named Rachel Carson wrote a book in 1962 (?) claiming that birds ate the mosquitos which DDT was designed to kill, and they ingested DDT with the mosquitos.  The book then claimed that the DDT chemical caused bird egg shells to  be too thin to protect the embryo and that this was the major reason bird populations were declining.

This book, while still revered by most environmentalists, has come under fire recently.  More and more, scientists believe bird populations declined for the same reason a broad spectrum of species were declining in the 20th Century- loss of habitat and excessive hunting.  Studies have cast doubt on whether DDT is as harmful as once feared.

As a result of DDT bans, the west began using more expensive chemical insect poisons.  The third world cannot afford these poisons, and so they go without effective mosquito killers.  These mosquitos carry disease, namely malaria, and thrive in tropical areas.  Malaria, a disease nearly eradicated by DDT, has come back in the last few decades in DDT's absence, killing countless people in rural areas of the third world.

My reason for introducing the bill was that I believe:

1. DDT will reduce the occurence of malaria in the third world
2. The health effects of DDT are overstated
3. The environmental impact of DDT is overstated

[Sam Spade]

Thanks for explaining that, John Ford.  I would have done a crappy job at it myself. 

[ilikeverin]

[WMS]

The green left makes up stuff sometimes, Ilikeverin. Ask your standard Albuquerque resident about 'silver minnows' and you are not likely to get a pro-environmentalist response.

[King]

Ask your standard Albuquerque resident about 'silver minnows' and you are not likely to get a pro-environmentalist response.

Or in San Antonio 'blind salamanders'.

[12th Doctor]

I would like to announce my support for this bill.  While DDT can have negative affects on people and wild-life, it banning has resulted in an estimated 200 million malaria related deaths in the past 30 years.  More than all the wars and all the abortions that have occured in that time period.  People in third world countries must be defended from these threats.  I urge my colleuges to put their pre-programed prejudices against this chemical away and vote yea on this bill.

[Sam Spade]

Are there any more comments or amendments Senators wish to bring up here?  Otherwise, I will call for this to be brought to a vote.

[ilikeverin]

The green left makes up stuff sometimes, Ilikeverin. Ask your standard Albuquerque resident about 'silver minnows' and you are not likely to get a pro-environmentalist response.

But I am a part of the green left

[Colin]

I second Mr. Spade's call for a vote.

[Gabu]

Debate has ceased for 24 hours (discounting the time when nobody could get online), so I hereby bring this to a vote.

All senators in favor, vote "aye"; all senators against, vote "nay".

[Colin]

AYE

[Gabu]

Aye; John Ford's argument in favor of DDT exports is pretty compelling.

[Sam Spade]

Aye.

[WMS]

Aye.

[WMS]

The green left makes up stuff sometimes, Ilikeverin. Ask your standard Albuquerque resident about 'silver minnows' and you are not likely to get a pro-environmentalist response.

But I am a part of the green left

Well, look at my comments in the open D4 thread for more on that. I would like to say that the worst thing the green left has done in NM is their deliberate targeting of poor, struggling family ranchers for lawsuits in order to financially ruin them...seems I have some of the Sagebrush Rebellion in me after all.

[MAS117]

Aye

[ilikeverin]

The green left makes up stuff sometimes, Ilikeverin. Ask your standard Albuquerque resident about 'silver minnows' and you are not likely to get a pro-environmentalist response.

But I am a part of the green left

Well, look at my comments in the open D4 thread for more on that. I would like to say that the worst thing the green left has done in NM is their deliberate targeting of poor, struggling family ranchers for lawsuits in order to financially ruin them...seems I have some of the Sagebrush Rebellion in me after all.

Those aren't the green left, they're the green evil

(Actually, they don't seem that green; if they were, they'd be targeting the evil huge livestock farmers whose excess crap (yup, animal wastes ) runoff into the rivers and cause algae blooms, leading to fish kills due to lack of oxygen.

[WMS]

The green left makes up stuff sometimes, Ilikeverin. Ask your standard Albuquerque resident about 'silver minnows' and you are not likely to get a pro-environmentalist response.

But I am a part of the green left

Well, look at my comments in the open D4 thread for more on that. I would like to say that the worst thing the green left has done in NM is their deliberate targeting of poor, struggling family ranchers for lawsuits in order to financially ruin them...seems I have some of the Sagebrush Rebellion in me after all.

Those aren't the green left, they're the green evil

(Actually, they don't seem that green; if they were, they'd be targeting the evil huge livestock farmers whose excess crap (yup, animal wastes ) runoff into the rivers and cause algae blooms, leading to fish kills due to lack of oxygen.

Shall we move this to another thread?

Well, there's nothing like watching Santa Fe upper-class liberals trying to shaft rural working-class populists to irritate me.

And you are talking about Non-Point Source Pollution, right? I did a paper on that very topic back in graduate school in 1998 (well, part of a long paper on water stuff, but non-point source water pollution was far more interesting than the other parts), and would like to add that sometimes the pollution breeded parasites who killed the fish in large quantities. Ah, memories...

[Platypus]

Abstain.

I really don't know enough about this issue to support this motion, but the arguments presented are compelling enough for me to not vote against it.

[Sam Spade]

Bumping...

Can we get some more votes here, Senators, specifically from those who haven't voted yet (Supersoulty, Naso, Nym90)?