DDT
Bate is on the board of Africa Fighting Malaria, a group promoting the use of DDT to control malaria. According to investigative journalist Adam Sarvana, he has been central to promoting "the myth that environmentalists, by preventing the use of the pesticide DDT … to kill mosquitoes in developing countries, have heartlessly caused millions of malaria deaths worldwide." His critics argue that rather than being concerned with saving lives, Bate's principle motivation for promoting DDT is to advance a free market, anti-regulatory agenda while smearing the environmental movement. For example, an article in the NRDC's magazine quotes Bate as saying, "DDT may be today's target, but it's not going to be long before chemicals that the industry cares about are added to the POPs Convention and other chemicals regulations."
Aaron Swartz wrote in Extra! that "a funding pitch uncovered by blogger Eli Rabbett shows Bate’s thinking when he first started the project. 'The environmental movement has been successful in most of its campaigns as it has been ‘politically correct,’' he explained (Tobacco Archives, 09/98). What the anti-environmental movement needs is something with 'the correct blend of political correctness ( . . . oppressed blacks) and arguments (eco-imperialism undermining their future).' That something, Bate proposed, was DDT."
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