BANNING DDT. KILLING AFRICAN CHILDREN

Dear Milo:

Here is a letter I just sent to my daughter.
It might amuse you. What is status of chigger control
now that DDT is banned?
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Dear Wilma:

After finishing Basic Training, I was sent to
Lawson General Hospital, outside Atlanta,GA for a course
in laboratory technology.The afternoon that I arrived
I went up to the PX (post exchange,including sales of all
kinds of small things, including ice cream and candy.)

I was just finishing an ice cream cone, the a truck backed
up to the loading platform near me, and a little old driver got
out to unload some large boxes of merchandise for the PX.

Automatically, I started helping him because the cartons
were too large for one person to lift. When all of
the boxes were on the loading platform the driver took off
his hat, wiped his brow, and said:
"I thank you,son. But I can't pay you anything"
I protested that I didn't want
to be paid for a common courtesy, but he said,
"But I can give you some information that will be of value to you tomorrow. They'll take you on a 12 mile hike. Do you know what 'rayd
bugs is?" I said I did not. "Rayd (red) bugs are so tiny
you can only just barely see them. They burrow under the skin
and cause horrible itching. If you sit down in the shade
they'll get on you, and in a couple days you'll have terrible
itching. So, when they give you a rest break on the hike,
don't sit down in the shade. That's where the rayd bugs will
be. Sit only in a place where sun has been very hot".

Just as he had said, we were ordered to hike 12 miles.
At the mid point, we were halted and told to rest. I sat
down on the hot shoulder of the road. All the guys made fun
of me, so I didn't tell them why they would be sorry they
had sat down in the shadeof the scrawny pines.

But a couple days later, many of them were really miserable,
with itching ankles and waistlines, and were on sick call
to get medication.

To this day I don't know why the officers in charge were so
negligent that they did not warn the whole unit.

I had some friends of people my mother knew who lived
in Atlanta. Can't remember their names now. They had a beautiful
pine grove, but in spite of using a lot of DDT, they never
sat on the ground in it.

Now that DDT is banned, I wonder if the chiggers are bad now.

Love, Pa
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