MIAMI: AERIAL ORGANOPHOSPHATE SPRAYING

August 3rd, 2016

Awake Goy

MIAMI: AERIAL ORGANOPHOSPHATE SPRAYING

August 3rd, 2016

In Miami? Run.

Also, if anyone knows the name of the firm that’s doing the spraying, let me know.

Naled:

Inert Ingredients are in most pesticide applications and naled is no exception. Caroline Cox from the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP) lists solvents in Dibrom that are listed as “inert ingredients”:

Napthaline: which has been classified by the EPA as a “possible human carcinogen” because it has caused lung tumors in mice. It has also caused headaches, restlessness, lethargy, nausea, diarrhea, and anemia
1,2,4-trimethylbenzene: it is a eye and skin irritant and a nervous system depressant that causes headaches, fatigues, nausea, and anxiety as well as asthmatic bronchitis.

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Unfortunately the most toxic route of exposure is inhalation and the most common application is as a mist making inhalation the most likely route as well (#ATSDR, 2007).

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Naled’s health effects stem from its cholinesterase inhibiting mechanisms which are common to all Organophosphates. It is a “severe” skin and eye irritant and can be ingested on food or in water, but it is most harmful and potent if it is inhaled (#Cox, 2002). Toxicologists at the University of California found that naled when inhaled is twenty times more toxic to rats as opposed to when it is ingested (#Cox, 2002).

Chronic Effects
Studies conducted on dogs and rates showed that naled does cause chronic nervous system damage resulting in a mineralization of the spinal cord and decreased nervous system enzyme activity that led to partial paralysis (#Cox, 2002).

Via: Reuters:

Florida will conduct an aerial insecticide spraying campaign at dawn on Wednesday in an effort to kill mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus, officials in Miami-Dade County said.

The campaign will cover a 10-mile area that includes the one-mile-square area just north of downtown Miami that health officials have identified as the hub of Zika transmission in the state, the officials said on Tuesday.

On Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an unprecedented travel warning, urging pregnant women to avoid travel to the Miami neighborhood at the center of the investigation.

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The aerial spraying campaign was recommended by the CDC in conjunction with the Florida Health Department to reduce adult mosquito populations that might be capable of carrying the Zika virus.

In a conference call on Tuesday, CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden expressed concern that vector control efforts so far have not been as effective as hoped. A CDC expert is currently conducting tests in Miami to see if mosquitoes in the area have developed insecticide resistance.

Florida had been using two products in the pyrethroid class of insecticides. In its aerial campaign, the state will use a chemical called Naled that has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to Joseph Conlon, a spokesman for the American Mosquito Control Association.

Naled is from a different class of insecticides known as organophosphates. According to the CDC, the chemical has been widely used to control mosquito populations in the United States, including in Miami, Tampa and New Orleans.

The CDC recommended the same chemical for aerial spraying in Puerto Rico, but the recommendation has been met with protests from residents concerned about its impact on health, bees, agriculture and the environment.

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