Could rise in autism be a result of the aerial war on mosquitoes?
For years it’s been one of the greatest – and most heartbreaking – mysteries in public health.
A few decades ago one in every 2,000 kids was diagnosed with autism – now, that number has jumped to an astronomical one in 68.
We’ve heard a lot of reasons why that might be – things like better diagnostics and even tricks in the way the statistics are being tallied.
But maybe the answer can be found right over our heads.
A new study has found that kids who live in areas where pesticides are sprayed from airplanes have a 25 percent higher risk of being autistic or having developmental problems.
And now, with the hysteria over the Zika virus set to grip much of the country this summer, it looks like we can expect to have more bug-killing chemicals than ever dropped on our heads.
At one time (not that long ago!) it was considered perfectly acceptable to spray DDT from the back of trucks driving around residential neighborhoods.
Kids would even run behind them and play in the fog of the pesticide!
Sure, now we know that DDT is really bad stuff. But what about the chemicals that are routinely sprayed over our heads today? It’s something that very often goes on without the slightest warning to the people down below.
And the collateral damage of those attacks from the air may be worse than we ever imagined.
Researchers from the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center took a look at kids in two parts of New York State. One area used planes or helicopters to spray for mosquitoes and the other used alternate methods on the ground, such as the spreading of granules or treating areas with hoses.
And their findings were beyond shocking.
It turns out that kids who live where they do aerial spraying of pesticides are 25 percent more likely to be autistic.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Steven Hicks, a pediatrician at Hershey, said this indicates it’s not just the pesticide, but the “mode of application that matters.”
Well, call me crazy, but when pesticides fall from the sky it’s time to duck and cover! But since these are often surprise strikes, that’s not always possible.
A friend who lives in New Jersey has told me how during the summer she’ll suddenly hear a low-flying plane overhead that’s dispensing droplets of pesticides – and doing so while kids are playing outside — with no warning at all.
And these air attacks are something that’s going on all over the country.
Last month residents of California’s Orange County gathered to protest aerial pesticide spraying over their communities. The county mosquito control agency wants to spray a chemical called Duet – a pyrethroid insecticide — claiming that the EPA says it’s perfectly safe to dump on them from the sky.
And get this. Last year the county’s plans to spray were halted as it couldn’t get a permit to fly over Disneyland, which is protected air space.
Are you kidding me? You mean we have to live in Disneyland to be safe from this?!
While this aerial spraying has been used in past years to kill mosquitoes, with all of this Zika panic now going on, it’s probably going to be ramped up. Even the CDC is recommending that locales get ready to spray from the sky if Zika is suspected.
So here’s what you need to do: Contact your local health department and find out if any aerial sprayings are planned where you live so you’ll have time to get ready. You’ll need to cover things up, and be sure to stay indoors and get the kids inside.
There’s too much at stake here to just trust that officials know what they’re doing.
Sources:
“Oklahoma governor vetoes bill requiring vaccine information” Associated Press, April 30, 2016, ABC News 7, kswo.com
