[Roritharr]

Is there actually a demand for killing off snakes, rats and cockroaches entirely?

I'm sure if we really thought long and hard...

[scythe]

Perhaps not, but there is a demand for killing off mosquitoes entirely, and in fact we've tried many times now...

[ams6110]

We came close to succeeding with DDT, until emotions got the better of us.

[scythe]

Not quite -- we simply drew down the population of Anopheles enough that malaria was unable to spread. DDT is a very effective insecticide, but resistance has been described and can spread if it is overused; in fact it is estimated that agricultural use of DDT causes more deaths from malaria by contributing to DDT resistance in Anopheles and thereby affecting vector control operations.

See: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v293/n5829/abs/293181a0... -- http://localhostr.com/file/itFWMaa/zzz.pdf

"it can be estimated that at current rates each kilo of insecticide added to the environment will generate 105 new cases of malaria"

In short, it just ain't that easy.

[5l]

Has anyone else got a crawling sensation on their skin?