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 cases of malaria; in 1963, following the introduction of DDT, the number had fallen to just 17.
Tragically, the effect of the bans on its use in the wake of Carson's claims were no less dramatic. Within just five years of banning DDT, the number of malaria cases in Sri Lanka had risen from those 17 cases back up to 500,000. Today, around 400 million people are infected each year.
The economic impact of reintroducing DDT is likely to be no less impressive. According to the UN, malaria costs Africa around £7 billion annually - about 40 per cent of what the continent spends on health.
In years to come, the ban on DDT will be seen for what it is: a scandalous example of half-baked ecological concerns being put above the needs of humans. That realisation will come too late for the tens of millions who paid for this folly with their lives. 
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