DDT works to kill bed bugs

9/16/2010

You think the remanufacture of DDT to counter the bedbug epidemics a bad idea because it is a suspected carcinogen ("Bed bugs bite," editorial, Sept. 7).

The banning of DDT has caused the deaths of an untold number of people in Africa. DDT is effective at killing mosquitos, which carry the parasite that causes malaria. It has a residual effect for about six months.

But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT. As a kid in the 1950s, I remember the trucks coming through my neighborhood spraying DDT as I stood beside the road absorbing the fog.

You want new chemicals to combat the bedbug threat, but how do you know they would be safer? It could take 10 years of testing before we could gain the same data on new chemicals that we have on DDT.

Robert Clark

Sylvania

I am outraged that at a time when Toledo is having financial difficulties - after Mayor Mike Bell forced unions to give back some of their hard-earned money - he uses $3,222 of the city's money to fly off to China ("Bell's trip to China irks some on council," Sept. 14).

Mayor Bell has enough of his own money between his salary, which he should have given back to lead by example, and his fireman's pension to pay the air fare.

Cindy Craig

Oakridge Drive

Why does Mayor Bell have to go to China to promote jobs? He can drive to Detroit and talk to Chrysler officialsabout bringing new products to the Jeep plant. That would bring jobs to Toledo.

Mary Jazwiecki

Kingsbury Avenue

As a proud parent of four graduates of Toledo Public Schools, I thank you for your uplifting Sept. 12 article "Birmingham schools defies odds." As the manager of the neighborhood library, I have seen firsthand the talent and dedication of Birmingham teachers.

In August, a group of Birmingham teachers offered a free school-readiness program for students at the library. The teachers went door to door in the neighborhood to make sure parents knew about the program.

We are proud to work with Birmingham teachers, and look forward to the opening of the new school in fall, 2011.

Julie McCann

Manager

Birmingham Branch

Toledo-Lucas County Public Library

Why are most of the people I see speeding through school zones during restricted hours so-called responsible adults with school-age children in the car?

Brian Linthicum

Lambertville

I have always supported the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library system and its efforts to meet the needs of students and adults, but it's time to draw the line.

Your Sept. 12 article, "Kent library scores $2.2M computer site" states that amount of money will fund 109 new computer stations, not including additional funds supplied by the library.

This project appears to be an excessive use of federal funds.

Helyn Carr Mockensturm

Maumee

Negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis can succeed only if neighboring Arab states support peace, provide for the needs of a nascent Palestinian state, and allow rights of citizenship to Palestinians living in Arab countries.

Recently, the Lebanese government passed a law that allows 400,000 Palestinians whose families have lived in Lebanon for more than 50 years the right to work. However, the law still does not allow Lebanese Palestinians to work in the public sector or in certain professions, or to own property.

This discrimination is not exclusive to Lebanon. A U.S.-based human rights group recently criticized Jordan for stripping the citizenship of nearly 3,000 Jordanians of Palestinian descent. The Associated Press reported: "Nearly half the kingdom's 6 million people are Palestinian and Jordan fears that if Palestinians become the majority, it will disrupt the delicate demographic balance."

Palestinians are discriminated against in every Arab country they reside in, while Arabs - Muslim, Druze, and Christian - who opted for Israeli citizenship after statehood was granted by the United Nations in 1948 enjoy a level of democracy and quality of life that would be the envy of any Palestinian living in an Arab state.

Discrimination against Palestinians who have lived among their Arab cousins for more than half a century, the inability of Palestinians to govern effectively in Gaza and the West Bank, a Palestinian psychology that embraces hate, violence, and intolerance, and the inability of the Arab and Muslim world to address its own lack of human, economic, and personal freedoms raise valid concern about Israel's ability to trust the leadership of any Palestinian state.

If the peace process fails, it will be because Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab leaders were not ready to deal with their own issues, not because Israel and Israelis were not ready for peace.

Joel S. Beren

Whitehall Road

The writer of the Sept. 15 Readers' Forum letter "Forgo hate with prayer, peace" states that the only answer to 9/11 is prayer.

That would be fine if prayer actually worked, but any rational person knows that prayer is futile. To demonstrate the futility of prayer, one need only pray for a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You would think that would get special attention from the Christian God, as it is centered in his "son's" native land, but it has been ignored for centuries.

It is just a coincidence that any prayers get answered. It is amusing to hear the devout make excuses for why prayers are not answered.

Instead of praying whenever we have some problem or are confronted with a difficult task, we should pro-actively do something about it. Prostrating oneself and uttering some words, however enchanting, will not work and has never worked, though I suppose it does give the supplicant a good feeling that the problem has been given to someone else to resolve.

Walter Ralph

Sweetwater Court

Now that the federal government owns 60 percent of General Motors, government officials do not seem to object as strongly to outsourcing.

Otherwise, why would a recent TV ad for Buick's new Regal model tout it as being "German engineered"? Apparently, the Republicans are not the only ones responsible for outsourcing, as President Obama would lead you to believe.

Paul L. Arndt

Chatham Valley Drive

I agree with your Sept. 12 editorial "The price of happiness," which argues that money can't buy happiness. You neglected to point out that with money, one can look for happiness in nicer places.

Jack Werner

Genoa