Category: Labor Exploitation

• The "Panama" Malaria Hoax

  This theory claimed that the mosquito explanation for malaria and yellow fever on the Panama Canal was exaggerated or manipulated in order to conceal the true cause of worker deaths: extreme labor conditions, racialized neglect, and what critics called “death labor.” The theory grew in a context where both sides contained truth-bearing elements. Mosquito-borne disease was real and central to canal mortality, but labor conditions, unequal housing, and dangerous working environments also killed and disabled large numbers of workers. In rumor form, the scientific explanation of disease became a cover story for labor exploitation.