University of Delaware ITUE

It's Not Easy Being Green (contd.)

Part 2.
Environmentalists have never given up the battle, however, to achieve a world-wide ban on DDT. Now it appears that with the support of the United Nations and most major industrialized nations, environmentalists are nearing their long-standing goal at a time when malaria is re-emerging in most disease-endemic countries. Beginning in the late 1990's, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has held a series of conferences to negotiate an international treaty that would lead to a legally binding global ban on a "dirty dozen" list of environmental pollutants that includes DDT. The issues that the UNEP must consider in negotiating a worldwide ban on use of DDT are complex, and are still the subject of hot debate.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Would this ban reward First World environmental righteousness at the expense of the Third World, where DDT is still the first line of defense against malaria?

  2. What issues need to be considered before banning DDT?

  3. What groups would have an interest in deciding whether to ban DDT?

UD ITUE Comments, suggestions, or requests to ud-itue@udel.edu.
"http://www.udel.edu/inst/jun2001/problem2.html"
Last updated June 14, 2001.
© Deb Allen, Univ. of Delaware, 2001; revised by Barb Duch.