Review of 3 Billion and Counting (2010) by Rrrrrrr M — 23 Sep 2010

A thought-provoking documentary. When someone spends his own money to make a film like this, you have to take him seriously.

Rutledge Taylor looks at the question of malaria, particularly in Africa and Asia, and asks questions that should have been asked a long time ago. Why have all the modern drugs, bed-net campaigns and modern insecticides not had a significant effect on the incidence of malaria? If the USA could eradicate malaria, why can't the same techniques be used in Africa? Dr Taylor quickly comes to the conclusion that DDT should be un-banned and used in Africa. So why was it banned in the first place? He finds that the US commission that looked into the safety and effectiveness of DDT, in the early 70s, declared it not only safe but an essential chemical. But their findings were overruled, without explanation. When he tries to investigate further, all official channels are closed off to him. We are left with the conclusion that someone, somewhere, is happy for Africa to suffer a million avoidable deaths every year.

This sounds as though the film is sombre, but in fact it is not. It gives hope for the future, although it is clear that top-down action is not going to happen on its own. A grass-roots, bottom-up movement must build, telling the politicians that enough is enough: a solution is available, cheap and effective, and the environmentalist dogmatism that led to the current situation must be jettisoned, otherwise the greatest genocide in human history will continue.