>The hundreds of millions who contract malaria each year, and the >millions who die, might well trade a few terminal years for freedom from >the disease in the earlier decades of life. > > http://www.junkscience.com/ddtfaq.htm > >Viruses and bacteria may be life's little messengers, but malaria is a >message I myself would rather not receive. Whooping cough in infancy (my >mother thought I was going to die), chicken pox, measles, and flu, not >to mention assorted bouts of food poisoning and countless colds, have >already told me more than I want to hear from Mother Nature's smallest >creatures. Your post is a good illustration for me that each one of us see things from his or her balcony. You will rather shorten your life than getting infectous diseases while young. >From my point of view i wish i had more acutes diseases when young and not having to deal with the autoimmune chronic condition that i have now. Because i can't stop myself to see a strong correlation between our victories over infectous diseases and the rise in autoimmunes and cancerous degenerative conditions . There is days i wish i had died then , from all the diseases well intentionned peoples, tried to save me from, thru vaccinations and antibiotics rather than to go thru the feeling of selfdestruction.Knowing that my body is so confused that it destroy itself is not allways easy to live with. Having experienced dying at least 3 times i am not concerned with bugs wanting to take advantage from my lack of vitality, i am concerned by the slow suffering of self destruction. I am the lucky one amoung the sufferers of autoimmune disorders because just one pill and i am supposed to live normally ( at list the doctors try to convince us Addisonians that it is the case). They were quick to point out that the president kennedy was affected by addison disease and that it didn't stop him to have all the responsabilities of the "world "on his shoulder. very few of us, i hear, feel as lucky as him . so it is just a question of perspective . Yes the "discovery " of cortisone saved my life yet i never saw any interest from the part of doctors in answering the question why do adrenal glands stop to produce it. I got more an answer of that kind. What is your problem? take your cortisone and shut your mouth. >From my perspective i see acute diseases as an attempt of bodies to maintain homeostasis ( All infectuous diseases manifest some kinds of excretions trying to get rid of unwanted materials). Repressing that attempt lead to further ,deeper disturbances .My experience have been that, when getting more in line with this natural wisdom and capacity of life to maintain itself, acute diseases become healing agents. About DDT i don't know if it is compararable to the miracle cure cortisone, but i keep wondering even if it is not as bad as previously thought, how good it can be for building real health. i see It as a mean to avoid answering to the real issues. While we are busy fixing problems we loose the willingness to wonder if we could not have caused them in the 1st place.and by that realisation, that we don't even have a problem in the 1st place . we are dust returning to dust. sooner or later is irrelevant . At least we have the responsability to make the journey a joyfull experience.of wonderfull moments I wonder how much joy the half naked indians children have at spraying cashew nuts with DDT as i saw them doing , may be they will rather enjoy harvesting the wild fruits of the forest ( something i saw them doing also but here from their own accord) I know for sure that neither the doctor my mother or i had a good time when it was time to" take care" of my health by injecting vaccines in my blood. At least we should learn from those instinctive responses that life knows better how to take care of itself. jean-claude Ps wanting to trade some autoimmune symptoms for some bugs.