this is the sort of chemical some researchers were suggesting as a possible way to interfere with the mosquito's life cycle. What sort of effects would that have! http://www.gmwatch.org/news/latest-news/16706-argentine-and-brazilian-doctors-name-larvicide-as-potential-cause-of-microcephaly
Interesting idea, but these are insect growth regulators that have no observed effects on human (mammal) development at well above the concentrations that are applied in the field.
The scientific results show that the cause is Zika virus
Mlakar et al. (2016) Zika Virus Associated with Microcephaly.- NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE · FEBRUARY 2016
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293825232_Zika_Virus_Associated_with_Microcephaly
Article Zika Virus Associated with Microcephaly
Is there any scientific evidence of this effect? Or are we discussing internet hoaxes?
Maybee you read first the paper in New England Journal of Medicine mentioned above:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1600651
This larvacide has been used in many countries for 20 years now. As far as I know, no other mass cases of microcephaly have been observed, which makes it an extremely unlikely cause of this syndrom.
Not completely impossible, mind you, perhaps it's some freak combination of factors only present in Brazilian rainforests... but I'm afraid it doesn't fit with the narrative of an evil corporation mutilating babies on purpose. It simply makes the government's action (suspending the larvicide's use pending more data) the only sensible one.
Apparently quite a few Colombian women have been exposed to Zika without a rise of microcephalic infants. Colombians, tho, seem to have a greater degree of Guillain-Barre syndrome, so I am wondering whether there might be something in the DNA of Colombians vs. Brazilians to interact in a different fashion. Seems every day there is a new culprit. Perhaps in the end it will turn out to be muddier than we ever thought. Just as we used to think that for every disorder there was one gene that we could fix, thereby ridding ourselves of that problem...
I would emphasize the recent observation of undernotification of microcephaly in Brazil, before Zika virus cases. Folha de São Paulo, an important Brazilian newspaper, notice yesterday (Feb 15), based in Bulletins of WHO, that at least 6,000 cases of microcephaly/year were not informed. The quantity of cases per year in USA was 400-800, while only 150 had been reported; 600-3,600 were expected, if the same proportion is supposed.
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