
Pesticide Spraying in Harvey's Wake a Toxic Boon to Agrochemical Giants - Red_Tarsius
http://www.mintpressnews.com/post-harvey-insect-control-damage-humans-honey-bees/231855/
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exhilaration
Is this section true? That a pesticide is now believed to be behind the birth
defects that were blamed on the Zika virus?

 _This is especially troubling given that the manufacturer of Naled, Sumimoto
Chemical Corp., is also the manufacturer of the mosquito larvicide SumiLarv, a
chemical now believed to have been the real culprit behind the spike in birth
defects in Brazil originally attributed to the Zika virus._

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tudorw
here's the paper I beleive they are referring to,
[http://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/04/13/0485...](http://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/04/13/048538.full.pdf)

"A Possible Link Between Pyriproxyfen and Microcephaly Dan Evans, Fred
Nijhout† , Raphael Parens∗ , Alfredo J. Morales∗ and Yaneer Bar-Yam∗ ∗New
England Complex Systems Institute, 210 Broadway Suite 101, Cambridge MA 02139,
†Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708 (Dated: April 13,
2016) The Zika virus is the primary suspect in the large increase in
microcephaly cases in 2015-6 in Brazil, however its role is unconfirmed
despite individual cases of viral infections found in neural tissue. Here we
consider the alternative that the insecticide pyriproxyfen, used in Brazilian
drinking water for mosquito control, may actually be the cause. Pyriproxifen
is an analog of juvenile hormone, which corresponds in mammals to regulatory
molecules including retinoic acid, a vitamin A metabolite, with which it has
cross-reactivity and whose application during development causes microcephaly.
Methoprene, another juvenile hormone analog approved as an insecticide has
metabolites that bind to the retinoid X receptor, and causes developmental
disorders in mammals. Isotretinoin is another example of a retinoid causing
microcephaly in human babies via activation of the retinoid X receptor.
Moreover, tests of pyriproxyfen by the manufacturer, Sumitomo, widely quoted
as giving no evidence for developmental toxicity, actually found some evidence
for such an effect, including low brain mass and arhinencephaly—incomplete
formation of the anterior cerebral hemispheres—in rat pups. Finally, the
pyriproxyfen use in Brazil is unprecedented—it has never before been applied
to a water supply on such a scale. Claims that it is not being used in Recife,
the epicenter of microcephaly cases, do not distinguish the metropolitan area
of Recife, where it is widely used, and the municipality, where it is not.
Given this combination of information we strongly recommend that the use of
pyriproxyfen in Brazil be suspended pending further investigation. "

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tudorw
I'm not sure about the credentials of the 'New England Complex Systems
Institute', though the authors have written other papers.

On the question of what pyriproxyfen does, I came across this, "Pyriproxyfen
is a potent suppressor of embryogenesis and later development that competes
for juvenile hormone receptor binding sites and disrupts the transition from
one developmental stage to another [6]–[8]. The mode of action of pyriproxyfen
is not fully understood due to the lack of a known signalling pathway and/or a
receptor molecule. " from
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3275616/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3275616/)

So if this is still the case, people do not fully understand how pyriproxyfen
does what it does, which is not that great.

~~~
tudorw
"The WHO has congruently pointed to the use of insecticides – particularly
larvicides – on sizeable containers of water to aid in mosquito eradication
(87). Conversely and controversially, the Argentine-based group Physicians in
the Crop-Sprayed Villages has implicated the larvicide known as pyriproxyfen
as the source of the soaring rate of microcephaly in Brazil rather than 18
ZIKV itself (83). The report states that by quickly connecting microcephaly in
newborns to the spread of ZIKV, the Brazilian Ministry of Health, PAHO, and
WHO have put the commercial interests of the chemical industry above the well-
being of the environment and the people, failing to identify that the areas
where this larvicide has been introduced into drinking water are the same
regions where microcephaly has exploded (81). The group supports their claims
by affirming that no birth defects were found to be associated with previous
ZIKV epidemics, and that in countries such as Colombia, there have been
thousands of ZIKV cases but no documented instances of babies born with
microcephaly (81). Based on previous examples of negligence in identifying the
causes and scope of illnesses described in this analysis (AIDS and Lyme
disease), there are evident hazards in allowing the supposed experts to
dispose of a claim rather than investigating additional possibilities (55).
However, in this situation, while it is still imperative to retain an open
mind and not reject any factors that may play a role in the disorder –
particularly when business and chemicals are involved – empirical findings
suggest that ZIKV is likely the primary culprit in the upswing in microcephaly
(83). "

Nature's Games: Will the Global Medical Community Triumph Over Zika Virus?
file:///F:/Chrome%20Downloads/eScholarship%20UC%20item%205n01487n.pdf

~~~
tudorw
[https://www.nature.com/articles/srep40067](https://www.nature.com/articles/srep40067)

04 January 2017 "Our data indicate that pyriproxyfen does not affect central
nervous system development in zebrafish, suggesting that this larvicide on its
own, may not be correlated with the increase in microcephaly cases reported
recently."

