ENVIRONMENTALISTS ARE PERNICIOUS ELITISTS; MALARIA WOULD BE ALL BUT WIPED OUT IF NOT FOR THE BLACK-LISTING OF DDT.

Byline: Joseph J. Jacobs Local View

THE headline in a local paper recently, reading ``U.N. Launches Joint Campaign to Fight Spread of Malaria,'' caught my attention.

The solution has been around for 30 years but not used because of Rachel Carson. In her book ``Silent Spring,'' she made numerous unsupported allegations against DDT as the bad guy of chemical insecticides. The environmental movement she founded was adopted by the elitists whose command-economy theories were failing all over the world. Here was a new cause, of certain virtue, to support as their political theories were failing in practice.

The ironic part of this ideological argument is the complete disconnect between the stated objectives of these political systems and the reduction to practice. Their theory claims concern for the people who are exploited by the free market system. Yet they impose their solutions from the top down.

The free-market system on the other hand takes its orders from the people - the consumers. While that system produces an elite, it is based on merit, i.e. satisfying the markets. Socialist elite are, on the other hand, self-selected by the intellectuals.

This diversion into the dynamics of socialist theory and its methodology is to suggest why people of this philosophic bent adopted environmentalism.

Both socialism and environmentalism share a common characteristic: Their motives are virtuous. Who can deny the desirability of raising the living standard of people or of eliminating poverty? And who can deny the value of improving the environment? But the virtue is in the doing, not in the idea. That is where both movements stumble.

The solution to the malaria problem was in the hands of the United Nations 30 years ago until Carson put her curse upon DDT. The U.N. and the world are now discovering the awful consequences of that thoughtless attack on DDT. Malaria was on its way to extinction until Carson's hysteria caused a halt in the use of this chemical to wipe out the anopheles mosquito, the carrier of malaria.

Those who have read my writings know that, during World War II, I was given the secret assignment to develop the process for producing this obscure chemical in large quantities. The first 500 pounds I made were flown to Italy, where the product was used to stop a typhoid epidemic transmitted by body lice in soldier uniforms. The surgeon general estimated that the 500 pounds of DDT I had made saved 5,000 soldiers' lives.

But that wasn't all. DDT was absolutely lethal to the anopheles mosquito, the infectious carrier of malaria.

According to the U.S.'s own studies, in the eight years after World War II, the aggressive eradication of the anopheles mosquito saved more than 1 million lives!

Yet the use of DDT to solve this serious problem was stopped dead in its tracks because ``Silent Spring'' indicted DDT without considering its enormous beneficial effects.

The assertion was made that DDT would cause cancer in humans. This conclusion was unjustified, since the only evidence was studies using mice that were fed massive doses of DDT beyond any amount a human could ingest. Translation of mortality in mice to its effect on humans is not good science.

So the massive problem the U.N. is worrying about now, the spread of malaria, has a known and tested solution. The consequences on the ban of DDT are finally apparent, but only after 30 years. Will the resumption of the use of DDT to kill the mosquito result in danger to humans? Perhaps. But will it be harmful? The followers of Carson would have you think so, but I am not aware of any cancer or other deaths attributable to contact with DDT.

During the initial production of the 500 pounds, I was covered by a 2-inch thick layer of the chemical, mixed with a solvent that would make it much more lethal than dry DDT. I'm still here.

Furthermore, professor Gordon Edwards of San Jose State University, who works diligently to eliminate the stigma on DDT, has regularly swallowed significant quantities of the chemical without any ill effects. Of course, DDT is not a benign chemical, but its benefits far outweigh any hazards in using it.

To the U.N.: The solution has been here for 30 years.