3 ms·

Pesticide Spraying in Harvey's Wake a Toxic Boon to Agrochemical Giants

20 points by Red_Tarsius 9y ago

exhilaration 9y ago
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.
- king_phil 9y ago
  They have at least been adding pyriproxyfen to the drinking water since 2014, but they say that is had no effect on newborns. I personally don't believe that, though.
  - justin--sane 9y ago
    "They"?
- justin--sane 9y ago
  That's BS. See pretty much all published literature. http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/02/05/zika-virus-the-conspiracy-theories-flow-fast-and-furious/ http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/02/05/zika-virus-the-...
- 7sigma 9y ago
  Its one of the many debunked rumours about the cause of zika http://www.who.int/emergencies/zika-virus/articles/rumours/en/ http://www.who.int/emergencies/zika-virus/articles/rumours/e... http://www.snopes.com/zika-microcephaly-outbreak-pesticide/ http://www.snopes.com/zika-microcephaly-outbreak-pesticide/
- tudorw 9y ago
  here's the paper I beleive they are referring to, http://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/04/13/048538.full.pdf http://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/04/13/0485... "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. "
  - tudorw 9y ago
    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.

20 points by Red_Tarsius 9y ago

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.

king_phil 9y ago
They have at least been adding pyriproxyfen to the drinking water since 2014, but they say that is had no effect on newborns. I personally don't believe that, though.
- justin--sane 9y ago
  "They"?
justin--sane 9y ago
That's BS. See pretty much all published literature. http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/02/05/zika-virus-the-conspiracy-theories-flow-fast-and-furious/ http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/02/05/zika-virus-the-...
7sigma 9y ago
Its one of the many debunked rumours about the cause of zika http://www.who.int/emergencies/zika-virus/articles/rumours/en/ http://www.who.int/emergencies/zika-virus/articles/rumours/e... http://www.snopes.com/zika-microcephaly-outbreak-pesticide/ http://www.snopes.com/zika-microcephaly-outbreak-pesticide/
tudorw 9y ago
here's the paper I beleive they are referring to, http://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/04/13/048538.full.pdf http://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/04/13/0485... "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. "
- tudorw 9y ago
  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.