Is it right to launch mass chemical warfare on Zika mosquitoes? | Patrick Barkham
As South Carolina has discovered, using planes to spray large areas with neurotoxins can have dangerous consequences
If you have to make a decision onwhether it protects, say, your pregnant wife from being exposed versus killing a few butterflies, I suspect in most peoples minds its probably worth the risk.
Im sure Dr Duane Gubler, an expert in infectious diseases, is correct when commenting on popular reaction to planes spraying the neurotoxin Naled to kill Zika-carrying mosquitoes in South Carolina. Its hard to argue for a frivolous butterfly over an unborn child. But millions of bees have also perished in South Carolina: if a chemical is killing crucial pollinators, how is it affecting larger organisms including unborn children?
Aerial spraying is a symbolic gesture to show authorities are taking action. Naled needs to be sprayed weekly to have an impact, and if the mosquitoes that congregate inside houses are to be wiped out, everyone must fling open their windows. The Environmental Protection Agencys advice? Keep windows closed.
I doubt the British authorities would choose a calm, precautionary approach over dousing our world with chemicals if faced with a public health panic. In 2014, woodland was aerially sprayed to kill the oak processionary moth, despite Natural England stating that repeated spraying would have a serious impact on rare butterflies. In Puerto Rico, however, the authorities have ruled out using Naled during the Zika scare, and deployed an organic larvicide instead. Perhaps the belief that were clever enough to cleanly take out a target think smart bombs with no unintended consequences is a peculiarly western conceit.
A matter of trust
The National Trust has been accused by celebrity Cumbrians of imperilling the Lake Districts most endangered species the hill farmer by outbidding locals to purchase land in Borrowdale valley without the accompanying farmhouse. Historian Tom Holland dared welcome the possible reforesting of the Lake District uplands; sheep farmer and author James Rebanks responded: Id like to see London dismantled and replaced by tidal estuary/marshland.
Rewilding is doomed if it becomes another bullet in the urban-rural culture war. But the sustainable, community-oriented farming championed by Rebanks is also doomed unless Brexit Britain replaces the common agricultural policy with something smarter. Both sides of the debate have to work together to ensure our countryside changes for the better.
You doughnut
Im proud of my countys beautiful capital, Norwich, Englands first Unesco city of literature and heartland for geniuses such as Julian of Norwich and WG Sebald. Without Norwich, the world might not now be enjoying Eimear McBride, who was first published by the independent press that sprang from the citys brilliant Book Hive.
Im embarrassed, however, to hear that several good citizens of the city queued overnight, for 10 hours, for the opening of a Krispy Kreme doughnut store in a shopping mall. This is not snobbery Im sure they were reading Eimear while they waited Im just disappointed that I missed this epochal moment.
The doughnut is rapidly emerging as a key player in lifes rich pageant. Three years ago, I stopped at a motorway services with my pregnant partner, who bought a sexist Krispy Kreme: it claimed to predict the sex of your baby. Its middle was blue, and she gave birth to Ted a few months later. Apparently cakes are being superseded by doughnut walls at weddings. Theres no reason why a doughnut cant glaze itself in black and provide timely comfort at a wake too.
Its days as an insult you doughnut are clearly over.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/05/tackling-zika-toxic-neurotoxins-south-carolina
