In praise of DDT.I found your article on malaria of great interest ("Taming Mankind's Ancient Foes," September 5 issue), and it would have done my father's heart good, especially the section on DDT DDT or 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-1,1,1,-trichloroethane, chlorinated hydrocarbon compound used as an insecticide. First introduced during the 1940s, it killed insects that spread disease and feed on crops. . In 1948, he was invited to Guatemala to a plantation, where Cinchona cinchona (sĭngkō`nə) or chinchona (chĭngkō`nə), name for species of the genus Cinchona, trees were dying. There was concern about the supply of quinine quinine (kwī`nīn', kwĭnēn`), white crystalline alkaloid with a bitter taste. Before the development of more effective synthetic drugs such as quinacrine, chloroquine, and primaquine, quinine was the specific agent in the treatment of from the trees being affected. Dad, Dr. Frank Howard, didn't give it a second thought. He took us (his family) with him, and we spent two months in Guatemala. You see, he saw his father suffer from malaria. My father was able to save the trees, and we had a great experience living in Guatemala. He went on to train many graduate students in plant pathology, many of whom became well-known in this field. My father died only eight years ago at the age of 93. He was a firm believer in the use of DDT. He knew it saved millions of lives across the globe for many years. HENRIETTA HOWARD-MOINEAU Lancaster, New Hampshire Lancaster is a town in Coos County, New Hampshire, USA, on the Connecticut River named after Lancaster, England. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 3,280, the second largest in the county after Berlin. |
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