Back

Zika Reviving Decades-Old DDT Debate

Zika Reviving Decades-Old DDT Debate, but Here’s Why It’s Unfounded

 Last week, at the bottom of a New York Times story about the Zika virus outbreak, an old and controversial chemical made a brief appearance. DDT, the insecticide made famous for its environmental consequences by Rachel Carson’s 1962 book,  Silent Spring, was being “mentioned a bit” in public health circles as a possible means to eradicate the Zika-carrying mosquito, Aedes aegypti, wrote the Times. Read more.