To stem the spread of chikungunya in Guyana, a decree since August has allowed the derogatory use of the insecticide malathion. A treatment not used within the European Union.
According to the latest point from the Institut de Veille Sanitaire (InVS), the chikungunya epidemic is intensifying in Guyana! For this reason, the French health authorities have decided to take a decision to put an end to a controversy. That of temporarily authorizing a controlled use of the insecticide “malathion”.
This product is not used in Europe. For this reason, a citizens’ petition has already collected a week after it was put online nearly 1,000 signatures for the ban of this insecticide. According to its authors, malathion breaks down into malaoxon, a compound 60 times more toxic for the environment (fruits, vegetables, insects, etc.). The latter would destroy everything in its path.
WHO recommended
But in a press release published this Friday, the Ministry of Health recalls that the fight against the so-called vector mosquito, that is to say responsible for the transmission of chikungunya, involves “the eradication of breeding sites and the use insecticides to kill adult mosquitoes. However, in Guyana, the eradication of breeding sites is particularly difficult. Moreover, in this region, the vector mosquito is particularly resistant to the commonly used insecticide (deltamethrin). ”
For this reason, the ANSES (1) the High Council of Public Health (HCSP) were contacted, at the request of the prefect of Guyana, to examine the advisability of using another insecticide, “malathion”, whose use is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and which is already used in vector control in Canada and the United States.
Not used in Europe but not banned
But is the product banned in Europe? Not really, because according to the government, “malathion” does not benefit from an authorization for use in vector control in Europe because no request has been filed by the manufacturers to this effect. It may nevertheless be the subject of a derogatory authorization for use in France for a maximum period of 180 days.
Thus, by a decree of August 5, 2014, the government decided to grant this authorization “in view of its proven effectiveness in the fight against the mosquito vector in this region and to respond to the important public health issue represented by chikungunya epidemic in Guyana. ”
The ministers concerned specify that the decision was taken after a thorough examination of the impact of this product on the health of local populations and on the environment. “This review demonstrated that malathion could be used safely and that its impact on the environment was comparable to that of deltamethrin”, it is written in the press release from the Ministry of Health.
Secure conditions of use
However, the latter also wishes to reassure the opponents of this product by specifying that the conditions of its use “will be strictly framed by the application of specific management measures”. These include in particular: an obligation to spread by land and in suitable meteorological conditions; exclusion zones around watercourses, food crops, surface water catchments and beehives; prior information to the populations.
Finally, “field monitoring will be carried out throughout use to ensure that they are properly observed”, concludes the ministry.
(1) National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety
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