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The Zika Virus is triggering all sorts of fear in much of the warmer areas of south and central America, and recently spreading to the US via semen of a man who visited the area. (There are only 31 cases of the virus being found in the US to-date, all from travelers.)
The fear is caused by linkage to microcephaly birth defects, but so far the science behind that linkage is unproven.
The World Health Organization is becoming alarmed:
"The level of concern is high, as is the level of uncertainty," WHO’s director general Dr. Margaret Chan said. "We need to get some answers quickly."
Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder that can lead to life-threatening paralysis also seems to be linked with the Zika.
But this isn't the first outbreak of the Zika virus. Its been around for decades. And prior outbreaks did not exhibit any linkage to Microcephaly or Guillain-Barre.
[Continues.]
There are now articles starting to appear that link the microcephaly with something that has an actual scientific cause of birth defects. And these articles are pointing to another Monsanto product.
According to one news site the birth defects may be due to a chemical larvicide component used by the Brazilian Ministry of Health against Aedes (mosquitoes).
Original Portuguese article here.
“Pyriproxyfen is a growth inhibitor of mosquito larvae, which alters the development process from larva to pupa to adult, thus generating malformations in developing mosquitoes and killing or disabling them. It acts as an insect juvenile hormone or juvenoid, and has the effect of inhibiting the development of adult insect characteristics (for example, wings and mature external genitalia) and reproductive development. It is an endocrine disruptor and is teratogenic (causes birth defects).
“Malformations detected in thousands of children from pregnant women living in areas where the Brazilian state added pyriproxyfen to drinking water is not a coincidence, even though the Ministry of Health places a direct blame on Zika virus for this damage, while trying to ignore its responsibility and ruling out the hypothesis of direct and cumulative chemical damage caused by years of endocrine and immunological disruption of the affected population,” according to the report by Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Towns.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday February 15 2016, @07:24PM
Yeah, I assumed those words from TFA author (Jay Syrmopoulos) were his boil-down of the Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Towns report, but I'm not sure if that is right or not. That phrase does not exist even in the PCST document, which oddly appears only in an English PDF.
Further, the much longer ABRASCO [abrasco.org.br] document doesn't appear to use those words either, but then I have to read that via Google Translate, so it might be in there.
The ABRASCO paper did point out that in addition to the recent (2014) introduction of Pyriproxyfen, the government has been for 40 years and continues to spray Malathion in these affected areas, as well as direct addition of these to the water cisterns, rather than screening the cisterns to prevent mosquito breeding.
The ABRASCO article carries something of politically charged undertone, but does suggest the whole mosquito control approach has been an utter colossal failure, and a cure far worse than the disease.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.