Following is a summary of Dr. Roger Bate's paper. Dr Bate is a fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs in London and a board member of the South African NGO, Africa Fighting Malaria. He is also a visiting fellow at the Liberty Institute, New Delhi.
The classic example of this phenomenon is the current attempt by western governments to ban globally the pesticide DDT. But although DDT can be environmentally harmful, it is still required for malaria control in some developing countries. Furthermore, since it is only sprayed indoors it is unlikely to cause any environmental problem at all, and will save thousands of lives.
Dr Bate discusses the proposed United Nations treaty to globally ban DDT, the status of malaria around the world and the impact of a global ban. He will draw parallels with other less obvious, but still harmful, western policies, and discuss the strategies by which the developing world can retain the right to use products/processes we in the west have long discarded.
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