SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
In Zika-Gripped Florida, Concerns Mount Over Insecticide Use - and Efficacy
"It's essentially a neurotoxin and can result in unborn children in particular having neurodevelopmental problems," expert says of pesticide naled
Aug 26, 2016
The anti-Zika aerial insecticide spraying program is raising health concerns in Florida and beyond, and the high-rise landscape in Miami Beach may also make such campaigns ineffective.
Weeks ago, as mosquitoes carrying the disease became resistant to a less potent pesticide, Miami-Dade County turned to the more controversial naled. The Miami Herald noted that naled is "toxic not just to the noxious flying parasites, but also to beneficial insects like honey bees, as well as birds, some fish—and people."
The newspaper wrote:
Several studies suggest that long-term exposure to even low levels of naled can have serious health effects for children and infants as well as wildlife, including butterflies and bees, for whom exposure can be lethal. Some studies suggest it might have neurological and developmental effects on human fetuses, including on brain size, echoing the severe consequences that eradication of the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries the Zika virus is meant to prevent.
"It's essentially a neurotoxin and can result in unborn children in particular having neurodevelopmental problems," Dr. Barry Ryan of Emory University told local station WTXL this week.
WTXL pointed out that the European Union has banned the insecticide.
Meanwhile, National Geographic reported on Friday that "the way those compounds are delivered doesn't fit the latest landscape where the insects are now flourishing--the high-rise hotels and luxury condos of Miami Beach."
Airplanes carrying the insecticides can't get sufficiently low to the ground, for one thing, and the tall buildings in Miami Beach create a sort of wind tunnel, as one expert told the magazine, complicating aerial spraying efforts.
"That makes it more likely that some bugs will be missed by spraying campaigns or get less than a full dose of killing pesticides, allowing them to become resistant," wrote journalist and author Maryn McKenna. "And that scenario could play out not just in Miami but also in the similar Gulf Coast cities where federal health authorities say the disease may land next."
However, the solution to that particular problem--working to ensure mosquitoes on the ground get a "full dose" of the insecticide--may be detrimental in the long run.
As Nichelle Harriott, science and regulatory director at Beyond Pesticides, told the Herald in mid-August: "Widespread application of naled is very troubling. We know it's highly neurotoxic. Studies show that low-dose exposures are problematic over a person's life."
"In cases such as this," she said, "they always say that people are just going to be exposed to small amounts for very short periods. But how long is it going to go on? How long are they going to be spraying? Those exposures do accumulate, and we need to look at those aggregate exposures."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
insecticidesbeyond pesticideseuropean unionanthony fauciinsectsfloridapesticidezikapesticidespublic health
The anti-Zika aerial insecticide spraying program is raising health concerns in Florida and beyond, and the high-rise landscape in Miami Beach may also make such campaigns ineffective.
Weeks ago, as mosquitoes carrying the disease became resistant to a less potent pesticide, Miami-Dade County turned to the more controversial naled. The Miami Herald noted that naled is "toxic not just to the noxious flying parasites, but also to beneficial insects like honey bees, as well as birds, some fish—and people."
The newspaper wrote:
Several studies suggest that long-term exposure to even low levels of naled can have serious health effects for children and infants as well as wildlife, including butterflies and bees, for whom exposure can be lethal. Some studies suggest it might have neurological and developmental effects on human fetuses, including on brain size, echoing the severe consequences that eradication of the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries the Zika virus is meant to prevent.
"It's essentially a neurotoxin and can result in unborn children in particular having neurodevelopmental problems," Dr. Barry Ryan of Emory University told local station WTXL this week.
WTXL pointed out that the European Union has banned the insecticide.
Meanwhile, National Geographic reported on Friday that "the way those compounds are delivered doesn't fit the latest landscape where the insects are now flourishing--the high-rise hotels and luxury condos of Miami Beach."
Airplanes carrying the insecticides can't get sufficiently low to the ground, for one thing, and the tall buildings in Miami Beach create a sort of wind tunnel, as one expert told the magazine, complicating aerial spraying efforts.
"That makes it more likely that some bugs will be missed by spraying campaigns or get less than a full dose of killing pesticides, allowing them to become resistant," wrote journalist and author Maryn McKenna. "And that scenario could play out not just in Miami but also in the similar Gulf Coast cities where federal health authorities say the disease may land next."
However, the solution to that particular problem--working to ensure mosquitoes on the ground get a "full dose" of the insecticide--may be detrimental in the long run.
As Nichelle Harriott, science and regulatory director at Beyond Pesticides, told the Herald in mid-August: "Widespread application of naled is very troubling. We know it's highly neurotoxic. Studies show that low-dose exposures are problematic over a person's life."
"In cases such as this," she said, "they always say that people are just going to be exposed to small amounts for very short periods. But how long is it going to go on? How long are they going to be spraying? Those exposures do accumulate, and we need to look at those aggregate exposures."
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
The anti-Zika aerial insecticide spraying program is raising health concerns in Florida and beyond, and the high-rise landscape in Miami Beach may also make such campaigns ineffective.
Weeks ago, as mosquitoes carrying the disease became resistant to a less potent pesticide, Miami-Dade County turned to the more controversial naled. The Miami Herald noted that naled is "toxic not just to the noxious flying parasites, but also to beneficial insects like honey bees, as well as birds, some fish—and people."
The newspaper wrote:
Several studies suggest that long-term exposure to even low levels of naled can have serious health effects for children and infants as well as wildlife, including butterflies and bees, for whom exposure can be lethal. Some studies suggest it might have neurological and developmental effects on human fetuses, including on brain size, echoing the severe consequences that eradication of the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries the Zika virus is meant to prevent.
"It's essentially a neurotoxin and can result in unborn children in particular having neurodevelopmental problems," Dr. Barry Ryan of Emory University told local station WTXL this week.
WTXL pointed out that the European Union has banned the insecticide.
Meanwhile, National Geographic reported on Friday that "the way those compounds are delivered doesn't fit the latest landscape where the insects are now flourishing--the high-rise hotels and luxury condos of Miami Beach."
Airplanes carrying the insecticides can't get sufficiently low to the ground, for one thing, and the tall buildings in Miami Beach create a sort of wind tunnel, as one expert told the magazine, complicating aerial spraying efforts.
"That makes it more likely that some bugs will be missed by spraying campaigns or get less than a full dose of killing pesticides, allowing them to become resistant," wrote journalist and author Maryn McKenna. "And that scenario could play out not just in Miami but also in the similar Gulf Coast cities where federal health authorities say the disease may land next."
However, the solution to that particular problem--working to ensure mosquitoes on the ground get a "full dose" of the insecticide--may be detrimental in the long run.
As Nichelle Harriott, science and regulatory director at Beyond Pesticides, told the Herald in mid-August: "Widespread application of naled is very troubling. We know it's highly neurotoxic. Studies show that low-dose exposures are problematic over a person's life."
"In cases such as this," she said, "they always say that people are just going to be exposed to small amounts for very short periods. But how long is it going to go on? How long are they going to be spraying? Those exposures do accumulate, and we need to look at those aggregate exposures."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.