Yesterday The Tampa Tribune posted a story about the spreading Zika virus.

The article states:

Warrior greenies, get out of the way. You’ve done enormous hurt in this world, you appear prepared to keep it up, and it’s time to allow people their health, their lives and a chance to fight back more effectively against mosquitoes that have been having at us from ancient times to right this minute.

Those insects are presently doing their egregious harm in a new, emphatic way in Brazil and more than 20 other Latin American countries and territories. They are biting people and infecting them with a pathogen called Zika. The virus has been around for decades but for the first time is believed to be causing a birth defect shrinking the skulls and damaging the brains of babies. It may also cause a syndrome that paralyzes people and it has even sneaked into the United States. The reported estimate is that 4 million people could be hit with Zika by the time we get to 2017.

This is a serious problem–the mosquitoes carrying the virus are moving north into America. Some people in the scientific community are wondering if it is time to bring back DDT.

The article reports:

It’s true that some other heedful countries have had less success with DDT, sometimes because of inadequate funding, and have had good success with other techniques. It’s true, too, that more potential ill effects of DDT have been noted, although there is still not the slightest hint of anything anywhere comparable to what malaria does. What’s clear is that DDT is now needed in South America. As noted in The New York Times, one person who favors such weaponry against Zika is Dr. Lyle Petersen, not exactly someone in the uninformed sector of the population. He is the director of vector-borne diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

We need to get back to the concept of balance. If DDT can help stop this epidemic and save lives, we need to use it on a limited basis to kill the mosquitoes carrying the disease. I realize that we don’t want to spoil the environment, but I do believe that we need to save lives if we can.