Gallery Talk: DDT and Malaria Control: Environmentalism vs. Public Health?

Eric Carter, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, explores the complicated and dilemma-filled history of DDT's use in malaria control. DDT, a revolutionary technology that promised to eradicate malaria once and for all, helped to eliminate malaria in some countries, but the global malaria eradication campaign was ultimately unsuccessful. Why did DDT-based eradication fail? And, given that malaria kills millions of people each year, should the spraying of DDT be renewed in countries where the disease is endemic?