Not Zika but Monsanto's chemicals cause brain atrophy?

A group of Argentinian doctors said that the cause of non-Zika brain atrophy is caused by chemicals that kill mosquito larvae in domestic water sources in Brazil.

According to Techtimes, Argentina's Physicians in Crop-Sprayed Towns (PCST) said that in 2014, a chemical that killed mosquito larvae (potentially causing deformities in this harmful insect) was pumped into domestic water in Brazil to block mosquito larvae growth in water tanks.

This chemical, Pyriproxyfen , has been used in a large-scale mosquito killer program developed by the Brazilian government. Pyriproxyfen is a larval killing chemical produced by Sumimoto, a subsidiary of Monsanto Corporation (USA).

The report of the PCST said: "The fact that cases of brain atrophy occur in thousands of babies who are pregnant by women living in areas of government that have put Pyriproxyfen into treating water resources is not a problem. random " .

A baby has brain atrophy.

For example, the Brazilian Ministry of Health found Pyriproxyfen in water storage areas in the state of Pernambuco . In this area, Aedes mosquitoes with Zika virus also grow in huge numbers.

Pernambuco is also the first state in Brazil to discover an infant's brain malformations. The number of cases in this state accounts for 35% of all babies with brain atrophy in Brazil.

The Argentinian team also showed in previous outbreaks of Zika virus, no cases of brain atrophy were noted.

In fact, about 75% of people living in countries with Zika outbreaks have been infected with this mosquito-borne virus.

In countries like Colombia, where hundreds of thousands of people are infected with Zika, there have been no cases of brain atrophy associated with Zika.

When the Colombian president announced that many citizens in the country were infected with Zika virus, but have not determined which cases of brain atrophy, the conclusions of the doctors' group seem to have gradually cleared up.

About 3,177 pregnant women in Colombia were infected with the Zika virus, but PCST reports said these women were either pregnant with healthy babies or gave birth to normal babies.

On the company's website, Sumitomo said its Pyriproxyfen chemical only poses a small risk to birds, fish and mammals.

However, the relevant facts do not seem so. In January this year, the Washington Post reported that after experts examined 732 cases of 4,180 cases of brain atrophy linked to the Zika virus, they concluded that more than half of them were unrelated to the Zika virus. Only 270 cases were confirmed to have brain atrophy because of this virus.