"Disinsection" or How Our Govts Are Spraying Airline Passengers With Insecticides

[Snowdrop]

In which case you'll want to have a bottle of hydroxy B12 around it soaks up (not a very scientific image) cyanide and is used in cyanide overdoses in hospitals.

 

[KauaiWahine]

I guess my overall point is, there have historically been *so many* times when the scientific community said something was "safe" only to find out later that it's not. Especially when it comes to man-manipulated compounds.

So when they say these pesticides are "safe" (but still include a disclaimer of "except in sensitive individuals" (of which we definitely qualify!!!)) I don't believe them outright because hey, remember when DDT was used for bedbugs?

There is so much about the human body that we still have no clue about, so to say definitively that some chemical meant to kill other organisms has absolutely NO ill effects on us (especially in a case like this where we're not exposed to it in its intended manner: outside in the open air) is just hubris in my opinion... and something we see all too often from the medical establishment unfortunately.

 

[Hip]

Not even close. Unless you are a cat.

I did see a paper here which found an association between exposure to pyrethroid pesticides and the development of ME/CFS:

Fernández-Solà et al. (13) described 26 patients meeting the CDC- CFS/ME criteria following work exposure to insecticide products. These patients corresponded to 67% of those attending a toxicology clinic following reported exposure to insecticide products.

Exposures were to OP (n=9), pyrethroids (Pi) (n=8) and OP + Pi (n=9), and occurred through fumigation (n=23) or accidental inhalation or skin contact (n=3).

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
(13) Fernandez-Sola J, Lluis Padierna M, Nogue Xarau S, Munne Mas P. [Chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple chemical hypersensitivity after insecticide exposure]. Med Clin (Barc). 2005 Apr 2;124(12):451-3.

Note: OP = organophosphate; Pi = pyrethroids.

 

[aaron_c]

I think it would be interesting to study how many of us were frequent flyers (esp overseas) in our previously healthy lives...

I got sick within two weeks of a plane trip to guatemala. The actual sick part was definitely some kind of infectious disease, but now I wonder if the plane ride was one factor setting me up.

For the record my onset was both sudden (I got quite sick in Guatemala and never recovered 100%) and gradual (from the initial illness my health did a downward roller-coaster for two years before settling at a normal low).

 

[Sean]

@Sean
Aside from the fact that people travel all the time on airplanes with their beloved cats and probably don't know this(!) there apparently have been more recent studies showing the cumulative effects of exposure aren't so benign for humans:

Not claiming pyrethroids are completely safe, just nowhere near as dangerous as organophosphates, which really are dangerous.

I did see a paper here which found an association between exposure to pyrethroid pesticides and the development of ME/CFS:

That IACFS review concluded that:

Results: The existing studies were in small number and had many limitations. Most studies were descriptive and only a handful of analytic studies were located, which seldom compared cases of CFS/ME with healthy controls. None of them was prospective and they were commonly prone to selection and information biases.

[snip]

Conclusions: The existing evidence remains inconclusive as to the association between exposure to chemicals and chronic fatigue syndrome, and there is therefore a need for further well designed epidemiological studies.

Once again, not saying there isn't a problem with these chemicals, and I am all for more and better research into this. But at this point, we don't have hard evidence that they are a primary cause, though exposure may well be a predisposing, triggering, or exacerbating factor.

 

[Hip]

Once again, not saying there isn't a problem with these chemicals, and I am all for more and better research into this. But at this point, we don't have hard evidence that they are a primary cause, though exposure may well be a predisposing, triggering, or exacerbating factor.

My hunch is that organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides may not cause ME/CFS on their own, but may make it easier for a viral infection to trigger ME/CFS.


Though research on the farmers with sheep dip organophosphate exposure does show this pesticide is associated with a significant ME/CFS-like neurological syndrome:

Chronic Fatigue and Organophosphate Pesticides in Sheep Farming: A Retrospective Study Amongst People Reporting to a UK Pharmacovigilance Scheme

Neuropsychiatric symptoms in past users of sheep dip and other pesticides

Neuropsychological and psychiatric functioning in sheep farmers exposed to low levels of organophosphate pesticides

Chronic exposure to organophosphates: background and clinical picture

MPs call for inquiry into sheep dip poisoning scandal | Environment | The Guardian



Organochlorine pesticides such as DDT and dieldrin have also been linked to ME/CFS (refs: 1 2), but most organochlorines have been banned for several decades now, with some exceptions such as dicofol which is banned in Europe but still used on cotton and fruit crops in the US.

 

[AndyPandy]

I can remember this happening on a flight from London to Australia back in the late 70s. The plane landed and we sat there while the government officials marched through the plane spraying the whole area (and us) with chemicals from spray cans! It was bizarre!

I have travelled overseas a few times since then (but not since ME) and I don't recall it happening again.

 

[KauaiWahine]

I just came across this piece written by the maker of the "Vanishing Bees" documentary - it has lots of good specifics and links for those well enough to read them all:

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/31402-pesticides-on-planes-how-airlines-are-softly-killing-us

Also, if you think that you or your loved ones are "safe" because you don't travel to the main list of countries requiring it - aside from the fact that they fumigate all planes every few weeks with only 45 minutes between passengers - consider the outbreak of Zika in Florida and what that means in relation to "Disinsection"...

Oh, and I mentioned DDT usage and bedbugs in an earlier post, but had no idea (per the article) they used DDT on planes until the late 70s!!!

 

[KauaiWahine]

Here's an article written in the late 90s (when "journalists" did more than compile links to other people's articles and opinions on Twitter) on the topic of pesticides on planes:
http://motherjones.com/politics/1998/07/danger-air

Scarily (but not surprisingly to those of us with M.E.) nothing has changed since then. It's a really good article with perspectives from people in many different fields.


Also, something really strange happened on Monday. Mere days after ever hearing the word "disinsection" I went to the library to pick up a bunch of books on my reading list about native healing plants in Hawaii as I know there are lots of efficacious plants and herbs worldwide, but I wanted to use some that could be picked fresh (and free) locally. So I got a stack of about 15 books (as often, once you crack one open you realize it's pretty useless so it's good to have backups rather than needing to immediately return to the library).

The first book I started reading from my pile was the smallest, since my Uveitis is still bothering me: NONI Aspirin of the Ancients by Diana Fairechild.

I had never heard of this woman before but on the very first page of chapter one she reveals her impetus for writing the book: she was an international flight attendant for 21 years and was medically grounded in the late 80s after having problems that were diagnosed as the result of being poisoned with pesticides on aircrafts for decades!!

I could not believe my eyes when I read that, having never heard the word "disinsection" before last week and then reading it on page one of this book I happened to check out of the library 4 days later...