Would You Rather Risk Getting Zika or Be Sprayed With Toxic Pesticides?

Let’s try Cornell University, who seems to know a little more than the manufacturers about what happens when Naled and humans mix. You can read the whole thing by clicking the link, but I’ve bullet-pointed a few of the most pertinent facts:

• Naled is moderate to highly toxic by ingestion, inhalation, and dermal absorption.
• Vapors or fumes of Naled are corrosive to the mucous membranes lining the mouth, throat, and lungs and inhalation may cause severe irritation
• A sensation of tightness in the chest and coughing are commonly experienced after inhalation. 
• Persons with respiratory ailments, recent exposure to cholinesterase inhibitors, impaired cholinesterase production, or with liver malfunction may be at increased risk from exposure to Naled.
• High environmental temperatures or exposure of Naled to visible or UV light may enhance its toxicity .
• The organophosphate insecticides are cholinesterase inhibitors. They are highly toxic by all routes of exposure.
• Eye contact will cause pain, bleeding, tears, pupil constriction, and blurred vision. Following exposure by any route, other systemic effects may begin within a few minutes or be delayed for up to 12 hours. These may include pallor, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headache, dizziness, eye pain, blurred vision, constriction or dilation of the eye pupils, tears, salivation, sweating, and confusion.
• Severe poisoning will affect the central nervous system, producing incoordination, slurred speech, loss of reflexes, weakness, fatigue, involuntary muscle contractions, twitching, tremors of the tongue or eyelids, and eventually paralysis of the body extremities and the respiratory muscles. In severe cases, there may also be involuntary defecation or urination, psychosis, irregular heart beats, unconsciousness, convulsions, and coma. Death may be caused by respiratory failure or cardiac arrest. 
• Some organophosphates may cause delayed symptoms beginning 1 to 4 weeks after an acute exposure which may or may not have produced more immediate symptoms. In such cases, numbness, tingling, weakness and cramping may appear in the lower limbs and progress to incoordination and paralysis. Improvement may occur over months or years, but some residual impairment may remain in some cases.

The Cornell information goes on to say that Naled is moderately toxic to birds (hmmm….I wonder if that could be related to what happened in Boston somehow), highly toxic to fish, and deadly to bees (yeah, we learned that the hard way).

Despite the strong feelings of local residents, the spraying will continue.

Back to the Miami Beach meeting. Kiro Ace, a graphic designer, said,“I don’t want to be sprayed with pesticides for what I believe is a hoax…If you’re going to spray, we want a say!”

As it turns out, residents don’t really get a say.

Officials have agreed to look into alternative mosquito control methods in the future, but the spraying planned for this weekend will still go ahead. Currently, there are 77 cases of Zika confirmed in Florida. Despite that relatively small number, 40,000 residents in South Beach will be doused with poison over their strong objections.

The last word goes to Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, Miami Beach Commissioner:

“We’re getting sprayed because the rest of the country sees this as a public health threat. We’re getting sprayed whether we want to or not.” (source)