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  • 2016-02-16 (xsd:date)
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  • Zika Microcephaly Outbreak Caused by Monsanto Pesticide? (en)
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  • An outbreak of Zika virus and a rash of babies born with microcephaly (an abnormally small head) has led to the World Health Organization declaring a public health emergency, along with widespread speculation that the two conditions are linked. On 14 February 2016, Star Trek's George Takei shared the above-reproduced Facebook post linking to an article that claimed pesticides were responsible for the microcephaly births: Takei's notoriety on Facebook meant that the study was shared widely, leading to even more widespread concern about the claims made in the item, which was originally published the day before on a web site called Second Nexus. Second Nexus doesn't appear to be a site devoted to science or medicine. Its About page described it as a New York City-based digital publication bringing newsworthy content in close conjunction with a powerful network of social media platforms. Presumably, Takei's extremely popular page constituted a powerful ... social media platform. The article in question was not specifically bylined (attributed to Second Nexus Staff) and reported: Only one group was quoted in the story: an Argentinian advocacy group called Medicos de Pueblos Fumigados, called Doctors [or Physicians] in Crop-Sprayed Towns. No portion of the article cited any specific evidence that supported the inference that pyriproxyfen had anything to do with an uptick in microcephaly cases in Brazil. It only stated that the larvicide was present in water and included a quote that the births were not a coincidence. Medicos de Pueblos Fumigados is a group of doctors and activists critical of increased use of pesticide sprays in poverty-stricken areas in Brazil and Argentina, advocating community-based and multipronged solutions to address outbreaks of diseases such as dengue or Zika. However, the group's statement (upon which the Second Nexus article was based) only stressed caution and an urgent need for more research into possible links between microcephaly and larvicide, not that there was an undeniable connection: A 16 February 2016 Grist reaction piece maintained that 'caution' — in this case, not using the pesticide — is more likely to cause more harm than the alternative, adding: That item then pointed out what appeared to be a gaping hole in the unsupported pyroproxyfen/microcephaly link theory: A 15 February 2016 statement issued by Australian pharmacology expert Dr. Ian Musgrave stated why he felt the claim didn't wash: Australian toxicology expert Andrew Batholomaeus issued a statement on the same date, underscoring why inaccurate media claims served to cause more potential harm than good. Batholomaeus first explained the previously described extant knowledge about pyriproxyfen toxicity before adding: Additionally, Monsanto was not directly involved with the use of pyriproxifen in Brazil. On 13 February 2015, the agribusiness corporation issued a statement: Medical researchers were working to unravel the causes behind the increase in microcephaly births. A 10 February 2016 New England Journal of Medicine article reported that research remains ongoing: A 22 January 2016 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) article described on Zika-related microcephaly research: A 13 February 2016 statement from Brazil's Ministry of Health (translated) echoed information published in medical journals and by public health authorities: A global effort to determine the exact causes of the 2015-2016 increase in microcephaly cases in Brazil remained underway at the time the pyriproxifen theory was floated. No credible, mainstream experts or public health groups lent any credence to that particularly theory, and largely leaned toward a yet-undiscovered link between Zika virus and microcephaly. Speculative reports connecting Monsanto and pyriproxifen as culprits had no basis in any accepted science or research and, at worst, served to exacerbate unfounded fears about larvicides during a mosquito-borne disease outbreak. To date, medical research hasn't reached any firm conclusions about why a decades-old virus (Zika) potentially led to a sudden increase in microcephaly cases; however, the use of a similarly decades-old larvicide (pyriproxyfen) as the only cause was dismissed by experts across several related fields as improbable and without merit. (en)
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