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DDT and Bedbugs
Aug. 17th, 2010 09:17 amSo, apparently New York City is experiencing a wave of bed bugs. Various sources, including Glen Reynolds, think that bringing back DDT will fix the problem.
Wrong.
See, as this person says, bed bugs developed a resistance to DDT way back in the 1950s. Not only that, but now we learn that bed bugs are still nearly 100% resistant to DDT. A researcher exposed bed bugs to DDT continuously for five days and the bugs didn't die. In fact, the second link points out a case in Malaysia where DDT helped the bed bugs - it killed a natural predator to the bug, allowing bed bug populations to soar.
This is a failure of logical thinking. Anybody with five minutes and access to Google could have found this information out. Now, how do you run a country when leading opinion makers don't do basic homework?
Wrong.
See, as this person says, bed bugs developed a resistance to DDT way back in the 1950s. Not only that, but now we learn that bed bugs are still nearly 100% resistant to DDT. A researcher exposed bed bugs to DDT continuously for five days and the bugs didn't die. In fact, the second link points out a case in Malaysia where DDT helped the bed bugs - it killed a natural predator to the bug, allowing bed bug populations to soar.
This is a failure of logical thinking. Anybody with five minutes and access to Google could have found this information out. Now, how do you run a country when leading opinion makers don't do basic homework?
