Debate Rages Over DDT Use in Uganda

     As Uganda looks to eliminate malaria¹, the country is engaged in a debate(辩论会) over the use of chemicals such as DDT in some of the world's most malarial² regions.

    In the district of Apac in northern Uganda, the risk of malaria is higher than anywhere else in the world. A mosquito in this area is more likely to carry the disease than in any other place on the planet. And neighboring districts are not far behind.

    Malaria is the number-one killer³ of children under the age of five years old in Africa, and fighting it in these areas has been such a challenge that Uganda has turned to a controversial tool: the pesticide⁴ DDT.

    The chemical was used widely in the United States and Europe during the first half of the 20th century and is credited with eradicating⁵ malaria in those regions. DDT has since been banned in both places, however, following the emergence⁶ of studies linking it to a number of health issues including diabetes⁷ and cancer.

    However, as Ugandan health official Dr. Myers Lugemwa explains, DDT was the only practical solution for northern Uganda.

    "Every mosquito there - or almost - is [malarially] effective," said Lugemwa. "We used DDT in that area and after just a few weeks we realized the reduction in malaria cases. Overall in Apac, the malaria instances reduced by 40 percent. In the neighboring district, it reduced by 50 percent."The spraying of DDT in northern Uganda began in 2008, targeting Apac and the neighboring Oyam district. Officials spray the walls of people’s houses - referred to as Indoor Residual⁸ Spraying or IRS - to reduce the risk of infection during sleep.

    According to Lugemwa, the initial spraying saw one species of malarial mosquito disappear from the region. But not all the residents of Apac and Oyam are happy with the results. Apac and Oyam are in a region that has, over the past decade, generated interest from distributors of organic produce. With little resources or development, farmers were raising crops naturally, which were then bought for export to Europe at premium⁹ prices.

    Bosco Acope is a farmer in the village of Acobatek in the Apac district. Before the indoor spraying program began, Acope was growing soy, sesame, maize¹⁰ and cotton. His sesame and cotton crops were being bought by organic distributors for 20 percent more than the market price, providing him with the funds to send all of his 11 children to school. But in 2008, Acope’s house and neighborhood were sprayed with DDT, and the organic companies would no longer buy his crops. The companies pulled out of the sprayed areas, forcing Acope to pull three of his children out of school.

    More than 15,000 small farmers were forced to give up their organic profits（收益）. Many simply had no choice. The Indoor Residual Spraying program is optional for every household, but once one house is sprayed, the surrounding homes can be exposed to the chemical. And many farmers reported simply being pressured into the procedure by health officials trying to fill their quotas¹¹.

    Apac resident Lillian Richard said she was not given an option to refuse the spraying. Richard told VOA that in 2008, several sprayers came to her house while her husband was away and began to remove her belongings¹². She said they did not tell her what was being sprayed on her walls and ordered her not to enter the house for two hours after they had finished. Richard said she was told that if she refused the spray, her children would not be treated for malaria at the local health centers.

    In protest of the program, which is sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development, organic farmers in the Oyam and Apac districts joined with the Uganda Network on Toxic¹³ Free Malaria Control in a lawsuit¹⁴ against the government. UNETMAC has criticized the government’s approach, saying chemical spraying was chosen because it is cheaper than providing sufficient amounts of anti-malarial medicine.

    The national field coordinator¹⁵ for the IRS program, Richard Onen, has dismissed the farmers’ claims, denying that residents are under any pressure to have their homes sprayed. He also said it was a misconception that the program was not popular.

    "The opinion changed. Only that we had those forces from the organic farmers, who were portraying¹⁶ the wrong image," said Onen. "But through sensitization, the community came to appreciate. In fact, the community was saying, ‘Let’s reintroduce DDT’ because they saw DDT was effective."Onen is employed by Abt Associates, which is contracted by USAID to conduct the spraying. The coordinator confirmed that the group did have a spray-quota of 85 percent set by USAID and revealed that Abt had received bonuses for surpassing that target.

    At the nearby Bala Health Center III, health officials are seeing the positive effects of the IRS program. According to the center’s figures, there has been a nearly 25 percent reduction in malaria cases from the peak month of August in 2009 to the same month in 2010. Bala nursing officer Kale Sam said the effects of the spraying are apparent.

    "People who have taken the spray are no longer reporting any cases of illness with malaria," said Sam. "Most of the cases we are receiving here, they are those ones from houses which were not sprayed."The UNETMAC lawsuit legally halted the spraying of DDT in Oyam and Apac. But the IRS program had already transitioned to other chemicals as local mosquitos began to develop a tolerance¹⁷ to DDT. In 2010, the courts ruled against UNETMAC and the organic farmers.

    According to Dr. Charles Lugemwa, the program could potentially readopt the less-expensive DDT as the mosquito resistance subsides¹⁸. With the documented effectiveness of DDT in the highly vulnerable Oyam and Apac districts, it appears the concerns of the organic farmers may be trumped¹⁹ by the fight against malaria.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

2 malarial   

患疟疾的，毒气的

参考例句：

• Malarial poison had sallowed his skin. 疟疾病毒使他皮肤成灰黄色。
• Standing water like this gives malarial mosquitoes the perfect place to breed. 像这样的死水给了传染疟疾的蚊子绝佳的繁殖地点。

3 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

4 pesticide   

n.杀虫剂，农药

参考例句：

• The pesticide was spread over the vegetable plot.菜田里撒上了农药。
• This pesticide is diluted with water and applied directly to the fields.这种杀虫剂用水稀释后直接施用在田里。

5 eradicating   

摧毁，完全根除( eradicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Objective: To study the acute and chronic toxicity of Ten-flavor-acne eradicating-capsule. 目的：探讨复方中药合剂十味平痤胶囊的急性及慢性毒性。
• We are on the verge of eradicating polio in the world. 我们已在世界消除小儿？痹症的边缘了。

6 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

7 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

8 residual   

adj.复播复映追加时间；存留下来的，剩余的

参考例句：

• There are still a few residual problems with the computer program.电脑程序还有一些残留问题。
• The resulting residual chromatism is known as secondary spectrum.所得到的剩余色差叫做二次光谱。

9 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

10 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

11 quotas   

（正式限定的）定量( quota的名词复数 )； 定额； 指标； 摊派

参考例句：

• In fulfilling the production quotas, John made rings round all his fellow workers. 约翰完成生产定额大大超过他的同事们。
• Quotas of the means of production are allocated by the higher administrative bodies to the lower ones. 物资指标按隶属关系分配。

12 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

13 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

14 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

15 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

16 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

17 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

18 subsides   

v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的第三人称单数 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上

参考例句：

• Emotion swells and subsides. 情绪忽高忽低。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His emotion swells and subsides. 他的情绪忽高忽低。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

19 trumped   

v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去分词 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造

参考例句：

• That woman trumped up various baseless charges against him. 那个女人捏造种种毫无根据的罪名指控他。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Several of his colleagues trumped up a complaint to get him removed from the job. 他的几位同事诬告他，使他丟掉了工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》