EPA: Develop Protocols to Combat Zika that are Non-Toxic to People and Pollinators!

At least 2.5 million honeybees were recently killed in South Carolina as a result of spraying to combat the Zika virus, after four travel-related cases were confirmed. The pesticide used, Naled, is highly toxic to bees. Naled can cause nausea, dizziness, confusion, and in extremely high doses, respiratory paralysis and death in humans. Spraying of hazardous pesticides has begun in Maryland despite no confirmation of infected mosquitoes.

Although mosquito-borne illness presents a potential threat, the health and environmental impact of widespread pesticide applications may be even more detrimental. Pesticides used to kill mosquitoes and other insects have been linked to severe and chronic health problems. For example, a 1981 study concluded that pesticides caused childhood bone marrow disorders in all cases that were reviewed.

Environmental activist Jean-Marie Kauth lost her daughter Katherine to leukemia following mosquito spraying. In a blog that brought me to tears, she writes, “I struggled to get people to take me seriously-all except Katherine’s oncologists, who were all too familiar with the literature linking childhood cancer with pesticides and other environmental chemicals.”

Widespread pesticide applications can be devastating to all forms of life, and are used despite questionable efficacy. Spraying landscapes kills off predators that naturally consume mosquitoes, and causes the evolution of mosquitoes less susceptible to pesticides.

Non-toxic methods to battle mosquito-borne illness are available and effective. The nonprofit organization Beyond Pesticides, comprised of accomplished scientists, recommends numerous strategies, such as removal of breeding sites, the introduction of predators, and the use of least-toxic larvicides to manage mosquito populations.

Please sign this urgent petition demanding that the EPA develop and implement non-toxic protocols to combat Zika and other mosquito-borne diseases. It is not acceptable to expose people to toxic chemicals, kill massive numbers of essential pollinators, and pollute our world – especially when the threat of infection is low and the effectiveness of current techniques is debatable. Please sign and share this petition today!