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VIDEO FOOTAGE OF LOCAL SCIENTISTS Allow 10-30 seconds to
download. (You need
QuickTime to play this.)
1.) Hear Dr. Robert Wingfield, Chemistry Head of Fisk
University speak about who is susceptible to adverse effects from spraying.
2.) Hear Dr. Lawrence Zwiebel of Vanderbilt
University (mosquito expert who has help developing countries deal with mosquito
problems) speak about the use of pesticides.
3.) More
from Dr. Lawrence Zwiebel. Personally, he opposes spraying in Nashville, and
Dr. Wingfield comments on the Law of Unintended Consequences.
BELMONT UNIVERSITY ENTOMOLOGIST SPEAKS OUT in a letter to the Board of Health and Health
Department (July 7, 2006) he states, "Roadside spraying needlessly spends taxpayer dollars since few mosquitoes rest in vegetation along roads. Read his letter.
BELMONT UNIVERSITY SCIENTIST SPEAKS OUT in a letter to the Board of Health and Health
Department (April 2005) about the affects of spraying on humans and the
environment. Read her letter.
LOCAL ENTOMOLOGISTS WEIGH IN ON THE ISSUE
Local entomologists
have warned that spraying is for emergencies only and short-term use. They
also say the disease burden for West Nile virus in Nashville has not warranted
spraying. Using pesticides when they are not needed has risks that outweigh the
benefits. In addition to the risks to humans, spraying creates resistant
mosquitoes and kills beneficial insects.
VANDERBILT PROFESSOR PROVIDES PEER-REVIEWED STUDIES SHOWING THE PESTICIDE THE
HEALTH DEPARTMENT USES CONTAINS A KNOWN MUTAGEN. "There is no safe dose of a mutagen," he warns.
The Health Department's toxicologist deny's that the
the pesticide they use contains a known mutagen but he refers to studies that are not
peer-reviewed but are from pesticide companies. Dr. Wallace LeStourgeon has a
stack of the peer-reviewed studies and a reference book from an advanced
environmental toxicology class he teaches at Vanderbilt Univeristy that lists piperoynyl
butoxide (PBO) as a known mutagen. See his letters to the Board of Health.
WHAT SCIENISTS FROM CORNELL AND TUFTS UNIVERSITY HAVE SAID
Cornell
University insect expert Professor David Pimentel wrote in a 2002 court case
filed in Cleveland Ohio by attorney Joel Levin (Judge Mary Boyle) : "Spraying with
pyrethroids from trucks has serious limitations. There is not
sufficient mosquito control to control West Nile Virus."
A pyrethroid (Anvil 2+2) is what is being sprayed in Nashville.
Pesticide expert
physician Dr. Grace Ziem, M.D. wrote in that court case: "In my practice I have
multiple patients whose toxic encephalopathy and reactive airway disease was
induced by pyrethroid pesticides. The medical literature also confirms that they
can exacerbate illness in individuals with migraine, asthma,, other chronic
respiratory problems, neurologic illnesses and other medical conditions."
In the same court case, Dr. Sheldon Krimsky, Ph.D. Tufts University Professor of
Environmental Policy and Planning, wrote about these same pyrethroid pesticides:
"There is no evidence from the published scientific literature that broadcast
spraying, ground or aerial, of adulticides, e.g., synthetic pyrethroids with PBO
reduces the spread of West Nile Virus; reduces the total number of biting
mosquitoes during a season; reduces the human cases of West Nile Virus."
And
"These chemicals [pyrethroid pesticides] have been classified as hormone
disrupters and neurotoxins; they are capable of affecting the human immune
system, lowering T-cell lymphocytes."
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