You may notice a distinct lack of mosquitoes in Singapore. How can that be? Isn’t Singapore in a tropical environment? Aren’t mosquitoes suppose to thrive here?
If you miss the little blood suckers you can come over to my house. There are always a few in the backyard. Mostly, the population is controlled.
I get regular notices of mosquito fogging being done in my neighborhood. The notices warn to stay inside. After being home during one of these foggings, I understand why.
An ominous cloud floats toward the house. The smell gets stronger until I run into the back room. The smell starts to dissipate and I wonder how much poison I have absorbed. I think “why didn’t I make plans to just not be at home right now?”
Mosquito truck fog
Oh, the mosquito truck. Being from the swamps of Texas, I am familiar with these monsters. My mother would make us all stay indoors for a few hours when the mosquito truck came by. For me it was cutting into play time. For my mother it was a reassurance against mosquito related annoyance and disease.
Things weren’t the same for her generation. I heard tales from my aunts and great aunts that as kids they would all run outside to dance and jump in the cool thick white cloud. The story was told with humor and nostalgia.
Did anyone see Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life? There’s a scene in the movie where the boys chase behind the mosquito truck. When I first saw the scene, something in my head clicked and I knew what the aunties spoke of.
Photo not mine
I ran across this post by another blogger through a google search. Apparently, yes, the DDT truck was a Texas thing. Scary to think what used to be “good for you.”
It’s scary to think what parts of our everyday life now we will later find out are poisonous.
When I arrived in India, they sprayed us all with pesticide inside the plane. I thought this was hilarious. I didn’t realise they did it on a larger scale too, but it’s a small price to pay for fewer bites.
Are you serious? That’s crazy! They didn’t do that to me when I went to India. That was back in 2009.
Maybe they only do it when you’re coming from certain places… it was crazy.
Really?!? I wondered why I have yet to be bit. Eeeek!
LOL, Now you know!
India is, today, the largest manufacturer of DDT and the place where more DDT is used than in the entire rest of the world.
Alas, that’s not a saving grace. Malaria is expanding, and infection counts and death counts are ticking up, because mosquitoes become resistant and immune to the stuff.
Meanwhile, worldwide, malaria infections have been cut by half since 1962, and malaria deaths have been cut by more than 75% — largely without DDT.
Better control methods are not so toxic, and actually work better, than spraying the country down. You can’t poison a place to good health, you know?
Thanks for the insight, Ed. I wonder how the governments will approach the mosquito / Malaria problem in the future. I’m curious as to where these better control methods are being used and exactly what they are.