Environmental Controversy Quotes
The ad was prepared by American Renewal, the political lobbying wing of the FRC. This quotation would be typical of the political technique of using the most tenuous, remote connection between a politician of the opposing party and a really evil world villain that was so commonly used by conservative politicians at the time. However, what makes the quotation even more noteworthy is that there is an equally tenuous connection between the Family Research Council's Focus on Families as defined in its charter and the subject of the ad–drilling for oil in the environmentally fragile areas of the Anwar of Alaska. Some of the FRC officials justify their getting into this issues as the drilling could help the economy and that will create jobs and then families will have more resources to spend for nutrition, education, health care etc. With that logic, there is nothing in politics that would be beyond their purview so why have a charter and a mission at all?
The scientific panel he had appointed to study the issue, did not recommend that DDT be banned. However, powerful environmental groups and lobbyists were able to force the ban politically. When he banned DDT, there were other pesticides available which were not as potentially toxic but were reasonably effective in controlling mosquitoes and hence malaria. However, the other pesticides are much more expensive and third world countries could not afford the alternatives. By the beginning of the 21st century, malaria affected over 100 million people, It is interesting to note that in Colonial America malaria was the largest single cause of premature death in the United States.
