Brazilian state suspends Monsanto larvicide used to combat Zika virus

[Ichingcarpenter]

The Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul suspended the use of the larvicide Pyriproxyfen, used to treat water to combat the spread of the mosquito carrying the Zika virus, the regional government said Sunday.

In a communique, the state government said that "the suspension was communicated to the 19 Regional Health Coordinating Authorities, which in turn will inform the respective Municipal Monitoring services" in all cities in the state.

The measure was taken after doctors with the Argentina-based Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Towns organization and the Brazilian Collective Health Association, or Abrasco, questioned whether the larvicide might be linked with microcephaly.

To date, Brazilian scientists had associated the increase in microcephaly cases with Zika, which - like dengue and Chikungunya - is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

But on Sunday, Rio Grande do Sul Health Secretary Joao Gabbardo said that, despite the fact that a relationship between the larvicide and microcephaly has not been proven, the "suspicion" that there may be a linkage had led the organizations to decide to "suspend" the use of the chemical.

"We cannot run that risk," Gabbardo said


http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2016/02/14/brazilian-state-suspends-larvicide-used-to-combat-zika-virus/

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. “It’s Not the Zika Virus” — Doctors Expose Monsanto Linked Pesticide as Cause of Birth Defects Read

As fear mongering about the Zika epidemic runs rampant, separate organizations of doctors from Brazil and Argentina are directly challenging the notion that the Brazilian Zika virus outbreak is at the root of the recent increase in microcephaly birth defect cases.

After the dramatic increase in congenital malformations, the Brazilian Ministry of Health moved quickly to link the phenomena to the Zika virus epidemic. Microcephaly is a congenital condition in which a baby’s head develops abnormally small.

In spite of all the media hype surrounding the mosquito-borne Zika virus and microcephaly, there has yet to be a scientific link proven between the two.


Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/doctors-groups-deny-microcephaly-zika-connection-blame-monsanto-linked-pesticide-birth-defects/#JUuYed0G3hpUHUeC.99

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. It's not Monsanto, it's Sumitomo Chemical - this is in your own article

Did you not read it?

In a statement, Sumitomo Chemical, the manufacturer of the larvicide

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumitomo_Chemical

Why are you covering up for Sumitomo?

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. Joint Press Release: Monsanto, Sumitomo Chemical and Valent Extend Crop Protection Collaboration

From Monsanto site:

http://news.monsanto.com/press-release/corporate/joint-press-release-monsanto-sumitomo-chemical-and-valent-extend-crop-protec


Monsanto is in a partnership with this company on this larvaside.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. That's not about the larvicide, that's about the herbicide Roundup, in the USA, not Latin America

Don't you even read what you link to?

[noamnety]

6. I think you are out of line here.

They may have read other previous reports that did incorrectly list Sumitomo as a subsidiary of Monsanto, like this one: "The authors said that the pesticide, known by its commercial name SumiLarv, is manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical, a Japanese subsidiary of Monsanto." http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/12/larvicide-cause-not-zika/

It's fine to correct them with new and better info. I'm just saying the association is probably because they read several sources, not because they didn't read their own articles or because they are trying to protect the company at fault.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. When has reporting facts been 'out of line'?

When I pointed out that Sumitomo, not Monsanto as they had claimed, was the maker of the larvicide, they linked to a press release which in no way said Monsanto is connected to Pyriproxyfen. It was about the 2 companies cooperating on a different product, that kills plants, not larvae. If they'd read it, they would not have claimed "Monsanto is in a partnership with this company on this larvaside" - unless, that is, they knew Monsanto wasn't connected to the larvicide, and hope no-one would read what they linked to.

They inserted Monsanto into the headline Fox News used, when there was no mention of Monsanto in the article - unsurprising, because Monsanto is the wrong corporation.

[noamnety]

8. Reporting facts is not out of line.

Making up incorrect motivations for it and accusing them of covering up for corporations is not a fact, though.

It didn't take me very long to google and find out why they thought it was Monsanto - because it's been reported this week as being Monsanto. Seems like an easy mistake to make - and an equally easy one to politely debunk. That's all I'm saying.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. It's not as if they've withdrawn the Monsanto claim in their thread title

It's wrong, and anyone who reads the whole thread knows it's wrong, but it's still sitting there as if it's the truth - and on the GD page, despite being false. They chose to make the incorrect claim about Monsanto, and are still doing so.

[noamnety]

10. Maybe they aren't online 24/7

It's possible that they, like Skinner, have a life that sometimes includes not being logged into DU.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. They last posted on DU just 2 minutes before you made post #10

and they posted reply #4 here without correcting the thread title. Either they didn't read it, or they did and knew it wasn't about Pyriproxyfen, but wanted to pretend it was.

[malaise]

3. Pyriproxyfen appears to be as bad as or worse

than the lead in Flint