Americani, comunisti, zanzare

Between 1946 and 1950 the RF carried out in Sardinia an experiment in malaria control by species eradication in using a new weapon, DDT. The powerful chemical promised a technological solution of the ancient problem of malaria, opening a new dazzling era for malariology-. Two hundred and sixty-seven metric tons of the insecticide was applied over the island and the fabulous sum of 12 millions of dollars was spent in four years. Malaria was eliminated, but the main objective of the complete eradication of the indigenous vector A.Labranchiae was not achieved. This outcome was also due to the tensions of the Cold War, during which the RF was viewed as working hand-in-hand with the U.S. government in the Mediterranean. Between 1947 and 1948, Communist press attacked the Regional Agency for the Anti-Anopheles Struggle in Sardinia (ERLAAS) founded by the Rockefeller Foundation . Some newspapers wrote that the ERLAAS vehicles were secretly armed and equipped to “take over” Sardinia. A radio report from northern Italy claimed that the antimalarial campaign was paving the way for the transformation of the island into an enormous US air base. This situation prompted the RF to transform the original objective. Under the pressure of various factors, including the Cold War, the initial ambitious purpose was changed: Sardinia, at the end, was free from the disease, not from the vectors: breeding places of Labranchiae mosquitoes remained in isolated areas.