I wrote this the week after Zika hit the news.
“Although a causal link between Zika infection in pregnancy and microcephaly has not, and I must emphasize, has not been established, the circumstantial evidence is suggestive and extremely worrisome,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said, reported by Reuters. “An increased occurrence of neurological symptoms, noted in some countries coincident with arrival of the virus, adds to the concern.”
Pesticides in Brazil and Pernambuco state are more likely to be the cause of microcephaly and birth defects than Zika virus and the links below speak for themselves.
“The farmers of Brazil have become the world’s top exporters of sugar, orange juice, coffee, beef, poultry and soybeans. They’ve also earned a more dubious distinction: In 2012, Brazil passed the United States as the largest buyer of pesticides.
This rapid growth has made Brazil an enticing market for pesticides banned or phased out in richer nations because of health or environmental risks.”
Why Brazil has a big appetite for risky pesticides
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/brazil-pesticides/
“According to the latest figures available from Brazil’s health ministry, published on 20 January, 3,893 cases of microcephaly have been recorded since the start of 2015. Pernambuco accounts for 1,306 of those, around a third of the total. In 2014, there were 150 cases across the whole of Brazil.”
City at centre of Brazil’s Zika epidemic reeling from disease’s insidious effects
The most obvious cause of birth defects in this area is direct contact and absorption of pesticides.
“A study of pesticide use on tomatoes in the Northern State of Pernambuco, Brazil, indicates high exposure to pesticide workers and poor application methods which threaten the ecology of the area.”
“Women washed the pesticide application equipment, generally in the work environment, without protective clothing or without observing the recommended three-fold washing process.
Poisoning assessment
Many of the pesticides used were hazardous organochlorine and OP insecticides. Of the workers interviewed, 13% suffered some type of acute poisoning that required first-aid treatment; 28% reported nausea during application of pesticides; and the majority experienced some symptoms immediately after exposure. 36% reported health problems related to the immune system (frequent itching of skin, eyes, and nose; or fever); 36%, skeletal/muscular problems (pains in joints); 33%, central and peripheral nervous system problems (dizziness, numbness in superior limbs, alterations in sleep patterns, and vomiting); 28%, digestive system problems; 25%, sensory organ problems; 18%, cardiovascular problems; 13%, respiratory system problems; and 11%, with urinary-genital system problems
Reproductive effects
Of the women workers, 32% reported being pregnant more than five times, 53% reported having prenatal examinations, 97% reported that they were not poisoned by pesticides during pregnancy. Almost three-quarters of the women (71%) reported miscarriages, and 11% reported having mentally and/or physically impaired offspring.
Neuro-psychological symptoms
Symptoms of minor psychiatric disturbances were observed in 44% of women and 56% of men surveyed (in the general Brazilian population, the prevalence is 5% to 15%)”
“The results of the laboratory analysis showed the maximum residue limits (MRLs) are regularly exceeded: methamidophos in 25% of the samples, and ETU in 78%. ETU can cause goitres (a condition in which the thyroid gland is enlarged), birth defects and cancer in exposed experimental animals. ETU has been classified as a probable human carcinogen by the US EPA. The organochlorine insecticide, endosulfan, which is banned for use on tomatoes was detected in 28% of samples at levels of up to 510 parts per billion.”
“It is important to introduce education on the hazards of pesticides and good agricultural practices in the school curriculum as many children accompany their family members into the fields”
Tomato production in Brazil
Poor working conditions and high residues threaten safety
https://bvsbioeticaediplomacia.fiocruz.br/lis-search/resource/6162
“Pesticides were found in the milk from 11 farms and one milk cooler (Fig.1), totalizing 12 positives milk samples. The main pesticide was fenthion, detected in four samples of 12 (33.33%), followed by dimethoate (25%), coumaphos (8.33%) and malathion (8.33%). In CB group, the pesticides detected were carbofuran (25%), aldicarb (16.67%) and carbaryl (8.33%). In some samples, two or more active principals were detected, what explains percentages over 100%. The frequency of pesticides found in this study is in agreement with Araújo et al. (2000) that noted that the most pesticides commonly used in Pernambuco are from OP class, followed by CB and pyrethroids.”
Organophosphorus and carbamates residues in milk and feedstuff supplied to dairy cattle
“It is very well known that acute or chronic increase of retinoic acid (RA)levels leads to teratogenic effects during human pregnancy and in experimental models.
The characteristic features displayed by RA embryopathy in humans include brain abnormalities such as microcephaly, microphtalmia and impairment of hindbrain development; abnormal external and middle ears (microtia or anotia), mandibular and mid facial underdevelopment, and cleft palate. Many craniofacial malformations can be attributed to defects in cranial neural crest cells.”
Pesticides Used in South American GMO-Based Agriculture
“There has been ongoing controversy regarding the possible adverse effects of glyphosate on the environment and on human health. Reports of neural defects and craniofacial malformations from regions where glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH)…”
Glyphosate-Based Herbicides Produce Teratogenic Effects on Vertebrates by Impairing Retinoic Acid Signaling
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx1001749
One of the sad things to find was how many are killing themselves with pesticides.
“The study found underreporting of cases of poisoning. The majority of reports are acute conditions (suicide attempts), while the estimates of the International Labour Organization show that most cases of poisoning are chronic.”
Health information systems and pesticide poisoning at Pernambuco
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1415-790X2015000300666&script=sci_arttext
Most of this is not new, with Pernambuco it’s just concentrated.
The Long Battle Over Pesticides, Birth Defects and Mental Impairment
There may be links with mosquitos and Zika virus but time will tell, if they manage to reduce the mosquito problem with more insecticides that may be a good thing but if birth defects keep rising in these areas it will be the pesticide use to blame.
If that happens we might have to start thinking about what on earth we are doing? The link to my original piece in Global Research is here.
Is it Zika ‘Virus’ or Pesticides and Birth Defects?
29th Jan 2016 from Global Research
These below were written after my article in Global Research which was only printed because I had emailed it to a friend in Mexico who then emailed GR.
REPORT from Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Town regarding Dengue-Zika, microcephaly, and massive spraying with chemical poisons. 9th Feb 2016
‘People who think pesticides might have something to do with the microcephaly outbreak in Brazil are being attacked as irrational conspiracy theorists. Claire Robinson takes a closer look at who’s peddling the myths
I recently published an article on reports by the Argentine doctors’ group, Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Towns, and the Brazilian public health researchers’ group Abrasco, which raised the issue of the potential role of the larvicide pyriproxyfen in the apparent surge in babies born with birth defects involving abnormally small heads (microcephaly). Pyriproxyfen is added to drinking water stored in open containers to interfere with the development of disease-carrying mosquitoes, thus killing or disabling them.
The Ecologist published a version of my article which, together with the original publication on GMWatch, quickly went viral, triggering a lot more media coverage. This in turn met with a furious backlash involving what has seemed at times like a “shouting brigade” condemning anyone who thinks the Argentine report worth taking seriously.’
Zika, microcephaly, and pesticides: Half-truths, hysteria, and vested interests.
26th Feb. 2016
https://www.gmwatch.org/en/106-news/latest-news/16734
‘The Zika virus has been the primary suspect in the large increase in incidence of microcephaly in 2015-6 in Brazil. While evidence for Zika being the cause of some of the cases is strong, its role as the primary cause of the large number of cases in Brazil has not been confirmed. Recently, the disparity between the incidences in different geographic locations has led to questions about the virus’s role. Here we consider the alternative possibility that the use of the insecticide pyriproxyfen for control of mosquito populations in Brazilian drinking water is the primary cause. Pyriproxifen is a juvenile hormone analog which has been shown to correspond in mammals to a number of fat soluble regulatory molecules including retinoic acid, a metabolite of vitamin A, with which it has cross-reactivity and whose application during development has been shown to cause microcephaly. Methoprene, another juvenile hormone analog that was approved as an insecticide based upon tests performed in the 1970s, has metabolites that bind to the mammalian retinoid X receptor, and has been shown to cause developmental disorders in mammals. Isotretinoin is another example of a retinoid causing microcephaly in human babies via maternal exposure and activation of the retinoid X receptor in developing fetuses. 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 exposed 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, and have not been adequately confirmed. Given this combination of information about molecular mechanisms and toxicological evidence, we strongly recommend that the use of pyriproxyfen in Brazil be suspended until the potential causal link to microcephaly is investigated further.’
A Possible Link Between Pyriproxyfen and Microcephaly. Nov. 2017
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5760164/
And recent Glyphosate studies, Brazil uses around 200,000 tonnes of Glyphosate.
‘The study shows that glyphosate contamination of water, driven by expanded GM soy production, leads to a large increase in infant mortality, as well as a higher probability of low birth weight and a higher probability of premature births.
Glyphosate is the most popular pesticide in Brazil. It represents 62% of the total herbicides used in the country and, in 2016, sales of this chemical in thousands of tons were higher than the sum of the seven other pesticides most commercialised in the national territory.’
Glyphosate associated with 503 infant deaths per year in Brazil – study.
June 2021
https://www.gmwatch.org/en/106-news/latest-news/19811-glyphosate-associated-with-503-infant-deaths-per-year-in-brazil-study
‘We demonstrated that GBH Roundup® LB plus has a negative effect on embryonic development of the South African clawed frog Xenopus laevis. GBH treatment with sublethal concentrations resulted in a reduced body length and mobility of embryos. Furthermore, incubation with GBH led to smaller eyes, brains and cranial cartilages in comparison to untreated embryos. GBH incubation also resulted in shorter cranial nerves and had an effect on cardiac development including reduced heart rate and atrium size.’
Impact of glyphosate-based herbicide on early embryonic development of the amphibian Xenopus laevis. Mar. 2022
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0166445X2200008X
Glyphosate without Co-formulants affects embryonic development of the south african clawed frog Xenopus laevis. July 2023
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651323005845
Of course there is nothing happening here except irrational, nonsense-spouting ‘conspiracy theories’ (:
