Florida to Arial Spray for Mosquitos w/ Organophosphate NALED/DIBROM

[angelatc]

Common sense isn't science, but if it was as deadly as the OP is making it out to be, the fields would be littered with carcasses after the spraying.

 

[MelissaWV]

Common sense isn't science, but if it was as deadly as the OP is making it out to be, the fields would be littered with carcasses after the spraying.

But the flipside of that is that common sense also tells me not to wander around outside while they're spraying the stuff.

Pcosmar is correct in that spraying does relatively little compared to people taking care of their property --- including, since they have so much of it right now, the banks and government. Ponds, puddles, retention ponds, etc.; get rid of breeding sites in areas that people frequent, and then your only worries is campers/hikers getting it.

 

[Zippyjuan]

On the other hand, when zika was first reported there was panic that all the babies in the US would end up with microcephaly and something needed to be done to save us. Yes, spraying is not 100% effective. But it is more effective than trying to walk around every house, car, lot, building, and look for anyplace where even a capful of water might be found and putting chemicals into that. The spray area was about ten square miles.

 

[MelissaWV]

On the other hand, when zika was first reported there was panic that all the babies in the US would end up with microcephaly and something needed to be done to save us. Yes, spraying is not 100% effective. But it is more effective than trying to walk around every house, car, lot, building, and look for anyplace where even a capful of water might be found and putting chemicals into that. The spray area was about ten square miles.

Actually, neighborhoods down here are sprayed pretty frequently throughout the summer. It might be a different mix, but it's still not something I'd be anxious to play around in.

No one is suggesting you find every capful of water, but spraying isn't going to find every capful, either, which means you're going to wind up with the chemical spraying AND unaffected mosquitoes.

 

[pcosmar]

I lived in the Florida Keys for 16 years.
This was a common sight.

anyone interested in observing the control,, I will take you in a kayak to observe.
you provide my transportation,, i'll be your guide.

 

[presence]

Common sense isn't science, but if it was as deadly as the OP is making it out to be, the fields would be littered with carcasses after the spraying.

actually no...

I'm saying that if 100% of the product was consumed via inhalation by rabbits,
1 rabbit would LD50 per 3 square yards.
Most of it lands "on the ground" and halflife's away;
probably adversely effecting trivial things like beneficial insects that eat mosquitoes

but, more importantly, what I'm implying is that

a) this is pretty potent shit; deadly and birth defects where not
b) its commonly sprayed where there are many mosquitos
c) overdose is not entirely implausible given its spread by uncle's employees on uncle's clock
d) if overdose occurs in humans it might just cause microcephaly as it does in rats
e) perhaps the microcephaly outbreak in brazil's favelas is actually organophosphate poisoning
f) or perhaps potentiated by such in the presence of a zika infection

 

[MelissaWV]

e) perhaps the microcephaly outbreak in brazil's favelas is actually organophosphate poisoning

It could also be any of a number of things. This is Brazil. Look at the water and air problems leading up to the Olympics, and also the living conditions the majority of the populace endures. I don't doubt there's an increase, but I doubt it's Zika's fault and I also doubt it's the spraying, since that increased after the outbreak began.

Turns out, when you test more for Zika you find... lots of people with Zika, some of which have no symptoms at all. Most of the Miami cases were found by testing door to door in an area where they found mosquitoes with Zika; of course they're going to find infections. The bottom line, though, is what few people outside the forum are going to ask: if so many have it, why's there no massive outbreak of birth defects? Over time, it might happen, but assuming that the mosquito-borne illness is the sole cause is dangerous from a treatment standpoint.

Lastly, we were discussing common sense earlier.

When someone who's in gloves, a respirator, long sleeves and pants (when it's 100 degrees out), a hat, and boots is doing the spraying, it's not likely they're spraying something particularly safe.

It's on the table, the chairs, the bars at the window (that's likely their kitchen).

*muffled* Yes ma'am... totally safe... definitely nothing to worry about... these products are absolutely safe for everyone.

Yep the old lady that uses the walker thing on the left, and the toddler that uses the little red chair, should be fine as soon as that guy clears out.

...is the common sense kicking in yet?

 

[donnay]

The FDA just greenlit releasing mutant Zika-killing mosquitoes in Florida

By Kristen V. Brown

Our sci-fi future just got a whole lot closer to becoming a reality, after the Food and Drug Administration gave the okay to a field trial that would release genetically modified Zika-killing mosquitoes in the Florida Keys.

On Friday, the FDA released a final environmental assessment of the trial, finding that it “will not have significant impacts on the environment.” The project, led by Oxitec, a biotech company that focuses on insect control, calls for the release of thousands of genetically engineered male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The lab insects are bred so that over time they could kill off much of the local mosquito population by passing on a gene fatal to any offspring they have with wild females.

This is not the last hurdle Oxitec faces in turning its dream of disease-obliterating mosquitoes into reality. The company will have to win the approval of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, which plans to vote on the proposal after issuing a survey testing local sentiment of Keys residents this fall. While past surveys have shown the project to have a majority of support, it has also had vocal naysayers. Some fear the environmental impacts that removing the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, a non-native species, might have. Others have more imaginative objections, such as conspiracy theories about the project.

Oxitec’s mosquitoes are engineered to include two copies of the baby-mosquito killing genes, overriding natural selection to make it almost certain that their offspring receive the killer gene from dad. Oxitec claims that trials in Brazil, Panama and the Cayman Islands have reduced mosquito populations by 90%, calling the success “an unprecedented level” of human control over nature. (The World Health Organization, which has also studied using such tactics against disease, has stated that while the technology “has demonstrated the ability to reduce the [mosquito] populations in small-scale field trials” there is still “an absence of data on epidemiological impact.”)

The FDA’s okay is a major step forward toward a U.S. implementation of the technology at a time of much concern over the spread of Zika in the U.S. after cases in Florida. Derric Nimmo, the senior scientist for Oxitec’s Keys project, told me that in the coming months much of his time will be spent going door-to-door in Key Haven, the area of the Keys where he hopes to do the release. Nimmo’s job now is to convince residents that his project is the best chance at stopping the spread of Zika in the U.S.

“Everywhere else where we’ve done this there’s been 90% or better control of the population,” he said. “If we can show that it’s the same in the Key Haven, it has a really good chance of being able to prevent Zika in Miami or wherever in the U.S.”

Oxitec’s mosquitoes, he said, is a solution that Keys residents don’t realize they need.

Luke Alphey, a co-founder of Oxitec and developer of the technology who no longer works with the company, said he hopes Keys residents find the FDA’s findings reassuring.

“They have looked carefully at the method and specifically at this trial, and determined it is safe,” he said. “I hope people who don’t have the time and the information to learn everything about this will take comfort in the fact that the FDA has had the time and the information, and this is their conclusion.”

The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District spends $1 million a year fighting the Aedes aegypti, only succeeding in controlling 30 to 60 percent of the population with insecticide. While it’s true that scientists can’t be certain about the environmental impacts the trial will have, the methods currently being tested are unlikely to halt Zika’s spread.

Daniel Rivero contributed reporting to this story.

http://fusion.net/story/333793/oxitec-zika-fighting-mosquitoes/


Flashback 2009:



"There is no reason only poor people should have the experience." ~ Bill Gates

 

[presence]

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2016/09/0...eaders-concerned-over-spraying-in-zika-fight/

Amid Concerns, Spraying Of Naled Delayed
In Miami Beach’s Zika Fight

September 7, 2016 6:23 PM