Writing from Washington DC, Richard Tren, of the organisation Africa Fighting Malaria, has taken a swipe at the European Union (EU) in connection with the E.coli outbreak, which has resulted in the deaths of a number of German citizens.

I agree entirely with Tren’s position. He points out the double standards of the EU. Let us look at some background. The chemical DDT has been shown to be the best chemical available to fight malaria when a number of criteria are taken into account, such as effectiveness, cost and ease of application.

In Africa, one child dies of malaria every 40 seconds. Much of this death toll is preventable. The easiest way to prevent many deaths is by using DDT.

Tren writes: “In 2008, the Ugandan government, with support from the US, embarked on a malaria control programme using the public-health insecticide DDT. This insecticide is sprayed inside houses, where it repels and also kills the deadly malarial mosquitoes. While the programme rapidly reduced malaria cases and deaths, it was brought to an abrupt halt because local agricultural producers feared their exports of produce would be rejected by the EU.

“The episode highlights the often absurd and unjust way in which the EU’s sanitary and phytosanitary rules, to say little of [its] generous domestic agricultural subsidies, restrict trade.”

Tren explains that coffee producers in Uganda were so concerned that their coffee exports to the EU would be banned if DDT were found in even trace quantities that Ugandans just died to protect the export market.

Tren says that some sacks of coffee, stored in buildings, were found to contain minute amounts of DDT. He points out: “EU trade rules allow maximum residues of DDT on produce of 0.05 mg/kg, which amounts to zero tolerance. The concentrations of DDT found on about half the samples of coffee ranged between 0.011 mg/kg and 0.26 mg/kg. Had this coffee been exported to the EU, what would the health risk to European cappuccino drinkers have been?”

He goes on: “Based on calculations that I undertook with a leading public-health scientist, we estimate that the DDT consumed would have been 12 000 times below the ‘no observable effect level’ (NOEL). The NOEL is established based on long-term experiments in which humans ingested DDT, following which observations were made to determine any human health effects.

“Essentially, there would have been zero impact on coffee drinkers – indeed, the naturally occurring carcinogens in the coffee would have been of far greater concern.”

Coffee has been found to contain more than 20 chemicals that are carcinogenic. But, before anybody gives up drinking coffee, let me point out that the amounts of the chemicals in coffee are insignificant.

Way back, in the days of the ancient Greeks, the importance of the magnitude of the dose was recognised. They had a saying that went thus: Everything is a poison and nothing is a poison – it is only the dose that counts.

If you buy fish and chips and sprinkle some table salt onto the meal, then that is good, tasty and healthy. On the other hand, if you eat a few kilograms of ordinary table salt, it can kill you. Table salt is deadly, but only in large quantities.

DDT is, in fact, harmless. The chemical has been stabbed in the back for political ends. You can eat DDT with no ill effects. I have met people face to face who took a teaspoonful of DDT every week for years, in the same way as one takes vitamins, and they were as healthy as anyone. In the early part of the twentieth century, mothers were so afraid of their children getting polio that many fed their children a weekly dose of DDT to ward off polio. DDT does nothing to ward off polio but, at the time, mothers were desperate and DDT was a wonder chemical in preventing malaria, so mothers tried it for polio. These massive doses did no harm to their children.

So, why did Tren take a swipe at the EU? Well, Russia has banned the importation of fresh vegetables from the EU for fear of accidentally importing the deadly E.coli bacterium. The EU has responded with indignation, calling the move “disproportionate”.

Tren’s position brings to one’s attention what the EU is doing to Uganda and other African countries, and that the EU now has the gall to squeal at Russia when Russia is acting against a real threat.

I agree with Tren in every step of his argument.

He goes on to point out the final twist in the tale – it now appears that the deadly E.coli probably came from sprouts grown on an organic farm.

Remember – in the early part of the twentieth century, and earlier, the whole world carried out organic farming. That was the only method available because pesticides and herbicides had not been invented. In those days, crops failed on large scales– the great Irish potato famine is a case in point. People also died from bacteria and disease on crops.

So, Germany and the EU are now exposed to much more danger lurking in their backyard organic farms than from Ugandan coffee.

To subscribe to Engineering News's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.