It is the world's most successful public health insecticide, saving millions upon millions of lives from insect-borne diseases. Yet DDT remains the world's most misunderstood chemical.

The authors assess the validity of the allegations that DDT is harmful to human health and the environment and find that they lack credibility.

DDT is still a critical weapon in the battle against malaria and other insect-borne diseases.

Malaria kills between one and three million people each year, most of them children in sub-Saharan Africa. The disease’s lasting effects on survivors reduce GDP by one percent every year and economic development lags as a result. Malaria continues to pose problems, notwithstanding decades of work by U.S. Agency for...