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Is Environmentalism Hazardous To Your Health?
February 24, 2007
Yes says John Berlau in his new book Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism Is Hazardous To Your Health.
I’m pleased Mr. Berlau’s publisher sent me this book to review. I thought I was pretty well up on the environmental issues we face, but Mr. Berlau has shown me there were many gaps in my self-proclaimed knowledge.
Take DDT for instance. I had no idea this stuff had been around since the 1870’s. Nor was I aware of the important role it had played in protecting our American troops in WWII from malaria and typhus.
In 1943 our troops had a established a beachhead at Salerno in Mussolini’s Italy, but our generals were warned of an outbreak of typhus in Naples. As Mr. Berlau writes:
The lowly typhus-spreading louse had stopped or delayed military advances in previous wars. And the generals know that a typhus epidemic had never been stopped in the dead of winter. Medical professionals had to wait until March or April for the lice to die out.
But the siege of Italy couldn’t wait, so Brig. Gen. Leon Fox set up an ambitious program to put to work America’s new secret agent of life: DDT. As the soldiers entered Naples, the army also brought gallons and gallons of DDT powder. They spray-dusted the streets, buildings, and even the people. Over one million citizens of Naples were dusted in January of 1944. In places like train stations, US troops sprayed DDT on the people of Naples from their shirt collars down to their shoes. Troops would also spray DDT on themselves in Naples and many other places. By mid-February the typhus epidemic was completely licked, saving not only our troops, but millions of Italian citizens as well. Gladwell writes that the Naples dusting ‘sav[ed] countless lives,’…
Mr. Berlau goes on to show how DDT rescued many holocaust survivors, saved habitat for the northern spotted owl and on balance increased the population of many birds.
Similar myth-busting facts and studies are presented in chapters on asbestos, the automobile, forest management, hurricane Katrina and our future under environmentalism.
Mr. Berlau has been a media fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University and in 2002 was awarded the Sandy Hume Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Journalism by the National Press Club. This book is well-written and well-documented and should be read by all interested in environmental issues.
Now we just need someone with Mr. Berlau’s talent to educate the public on livestock grazing, wilderness, endangered species and clean air and water.
Yes says John Berlau in his new book Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism Is Hazardous To Your Health.
I’m pleased Mr. Berlau’s publisher sent me this book to review. I thought I was pretty well up on the environmental issues we face, but Mr. Berlau has shown me there were many gaps in my self-proclaimed knowledge.
Take DDT for instance. I had no idea this stuff had been around since the 1870’s. Nor was I aware of the important role it had played in protecting our American troops in WWII from malaria and typhus.
In 1943 our troops had a established a beachhead at Salerno in Mussolini’s Italy, but our generals were warned of an outbreak of typhus in Naples. As Mr. Berlau writes:
The lowly typhus-spreading louse had stopped or delayed military advances in previous wars. And the generals know that a typhus epidemic had never been stopped in the dead of winter. Medical professionals had to wait until March or April for the lice to die out.
But the siege of Italy couldn’t wait, so Brig. Gen. Leon Fox set up an ambitious program to put to work America’s new secret agent of life: DDT. As the soldiers entered Naples, the army also brought gallons and gallons of DDT powder. They spray-dusted the streets, buildings, and even the people. Over one million citizens of Naples were dusted in January of 1944. In places like train stations, US troops sprayed DDT on the people of Naples from their shirt collars down to their shoes. Troops would also spray DDT on themselves in Naples and many other places. By mid-February the typhus epidemic was completely licked, saving not only our troops, but millions of Italian citizens as well. Gladwell writes that the Naples dusting ‘sav[ed] countless lives,’…
Mr. Berlau goes on to show how DDT rescued many holocaust survivors, saved habitat for the northern spotted owl and on balance increased the population of many birds.
Similar myth-busting facts and studies are presented in chapters on asbestos, the automobile, forest management, hurricane Katrina and our future under environmentalism.
Mr. Berlau has been a media fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University and in 2002 was awarded the Sandy Hume Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Journalism by the National Press Club. This book is well-written and well-documented and should be read by all interested in environmental issues.
Now we just need someone with Mr. Berlau’s talent to educate the public on livestock grazing, wilderness, endangered species and clean air and water.
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NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml