The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
A U. S. Army dusting
team brings itch relief to
little Arabs in Algeria
by BEVERLY SMITH
THIS war has produced a bug powder
which will eventually save more lives
than gunpowder can destroy.
It promises control of malaria, which kills
more than 1,000,000 people in the world every
year, and of typhus, which killed more than
3,000,000 in the last war. It has already
smashed a typhus epidemic that threatened
our armies in Italy. It is saving life and health
among our men in the Pacific, where at one
time malaria was knocking out more men
than Japanese bullets.
The new chemical is called DDT. Until re-
cently it was a military secret. It is far more
,,adly to our insect enemies than any sub-
Lnce hitherto known. It is a wonder-killer
against such disease carriers as mosquitoes,
lice, and flies. It blitzes bedbugs, roaches, and
fleas, and apparently protects against most of
the insects which make life miserable for cat-
tle, horses, cows, and poultry. Even dogs will
have their day-freedom from scratching.
For farmers it may bring a revolution in the
control of pests which destroy the crops. But
here a word of caution: DDT is so strong and
lasting in its effects that, used improperly, it
may kill useful insects (such as the bee) or do
other damage. Country-wide research is now
under way to determine correct mixtures and
applications.
No DDT can be spared for civilian use at
present. Its military importance is so great
that every pound of it (except for scientific
experimental allotments) is being rushed from
the chemical plants to the fighting fronts.
Factories are producing DDT by the hundreds
of thousands of pounds, but can't catch up
with the demands of war.
Says Lieut. Col. A. L. Ahnfeldt, Surgeon
General's office, U. S. Army: "DDT will be
to preventive medicine what Lister's discovery
of antiseptics was to surgery."
What could be so humble and unromantic
as a bug powder-an insecticide? Yet this
DDT will sway human destinies and civiliza-
tions, especially in the Orient. And it has a
strange and romantic story, shared in by
an obscure German (Continued on pag' 81
47
ae sry r asecie w
iu:
