> Environmental and Health Concerns > Herbicides and Pesticides

We Need Proof

2002 was the year West Nile Virus (WNV) fever hit Canada, after three years of reports of illness and death in humans and birds in the United States. Now some levels of government are considering spraying insecticides to "protect" Canadians from the mosquitoes believed to be the main carrier of the disease. This initiative raises serious questions, not only about the very nature of WNV, but also about the impact that massive aerial spraying could have on humans, wildlife and the environment. We believe in WNV because we are told by the media, who were told by Canadian public health officials, who were told by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), who were told by virologists that the virus exists and is the cause of an associated encephalitis (brain inflammation). According to the CDC Web site, West Nile Virus is a flavivrica, West Asia and the Middle East. It can infect humans, birds, mosquitoes, horses and some other mammals. Afflicted humans usually suffer flu-like symptoms that disappear without long term consequences in several days. However, when the virus causes West Nile encephalitis, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), or meningoencephalitis, serious harm and even death can result. But few have critically examined the published scientific evidence concerning the existence of WNV. Those who do will find a less than convincing story.

David Crowe is a Calgary-based environmentalist and critic of the scientific basis for modern medicine. He has an HBSc in biology and mathematics and can be reached at David.Crowe@aras.ab.ca.

Source: alive #246, April 2003