Genericville is one of America’s tour destinations that are frequented during summer time. This is encouraged by the rich diversity of birds and fish which find nourishment from the wide river that runs through the town. As a result of these flourishing flora and fauna, the town has marked itself as a center for tourist attraction, one event that has become an economic activity for the inhabitants of this area. The people of this area capitalize on the summer vacationers that frequent this area during summer time. Unfortunately, the riverbanks have extended their nurturing not only to birds and fishes that attract tourists but also mosquitoes that are responsible for the transmission of dangerous diseases like West Nile Virus.
The city Council has resorted to use a chemical called Malathion to kill the disease causing mosquitoes in order to save the population from WNV. Sad to say is that the chemical itself has its own side effects that might harm the society. This has become a topic of discussion among the members of the City Council as they try to analyze which risk is much preferred between the mosquitoes and the chemicals. To understand on which is the best decision to make, the following risk assessment has been designed to help analyze the situation.
Hazard Identification
This chemical is associated with so many defects. The following have been scientifically proved by Malathion medical research. In their research, Sinclair and pressinger (1994) outline the following side effects as associated to Malathion. Intestinal disorders in children exposed to it. It also leads to child leukemia and aplastic anemia which is caused by organophosphate pesticides Malathion being one of them. The same organophosphate pesticides lead to kidney disorders. Another problem associated with Malathion is birth defects exhibited both in humans and animals. Malathion leads to destruction of chromosomes in human blood cells. Malathion causes the deletion of DNA molecules from the white cells thus tempering with the immune system of the body. Malathion contains a chemical called trimethyl-phosphorothioate which leads to brain cells damage. In birds, it causes birth defects. Malathion also destroys cytotoxic lymphocytes a type of white blood cells that attack cancer cells and virus infected cells. In fish, the lowest level of Malathion leads to heart defects. Apart from that, it also damages gills in sport fish.
Frogs and tadpoles develop mutation while shrimps lose their food locating ability causing a serious break down of the food chain. Very low levels of this chemical leads to development of liver and kidney complications in lizards (Sawatzky, 2006).
Dose-response Assessment
The effects associated to this chemical vary according to the amount of dosage. For example, very low dosages can cause problems to animals like lizards, fish and birds. In addition to this dosage, it is noted that storage of this chemical for more than three months increases its toxic power. In addition to this, the exposure to the sun increases the toxic nature of this chemical. This means that Malathion is more toxic with the length in storage (Bonner et al).
Exposure assessment
Malathion is an element that is exposed to humans through the use of pesticides to control pests (EXTOXNET, 1996). This is more frequent in the agricultural sector where pesticides like Malathion are used to control harmful disease causing pests from crop farms. Apart from the agricultural farms, it can also be used in the spraying of bushes and river banks to eradicate mosquitoes. One of the most common uses is the use of shampoo to kill lies. Most of the chemicals used in these activities contain organophosphates that are dangerous to the health of the humans. This means that those humans who live in agricultural areas risk a greater exposure to this chemical as compared to others. In addition, people who live near river banks that are mosquito ridden and use chemicals to control them are at a greater risk of ending up with these complications.
Risk Characterization
With the use of Malathion to destroy mosquitoes in Genericville, the inhabitants will be exposed to high dosage of this chemical. They will therefore increase their chances of contacting these diseases that are associated with organophosphate. Its use will not only be in low dosage but high dosage which will be detrimental to the health of the inhabitants (Sawatzky, 2006).
The use of Malathion to control mosquitoes will be more destructive as compared to the prevailing situation. The logic here is that while mosquitoes are causing WNV to a population of about fifty people out of the hundred thousand living in Genericville, using Malathion will increase the number to greater. Therefore, the current risk of 0.0005 stands a chance of being raised to bigger levels. This will be as a result in the increase in the exposure of the people to Malathion after spraying.
Unlike mosquitoes that cause WNV to human beings only, the use of Malathion will affect the birds and fishes which are the major tourist attraction of the area. This in addition will lead to more diseases that are associated to poverty and other social ills like prostitution and insecurity as most of the people will have lost their jobs which are based on tourism.
Therefore, it is more advisable that the idea of using Malathion is voted out to save the city of Genericville from suffering other more complicated consequences. The money intended to buy the chemicals should therefore be used for purchasing nets to be distributed freely to the public.
References
Bonner, R., Coble, J., Blair, A., et al. “Malathion exposure and the incidence of cancer in the Agricultural healthy study”. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2009. Web.
EXTOXNET. (1996). “Malathion.” Oregon State University. Web.
Sawatzky, W., (2006). “Mosquitoes vs. Malathion”. Manitoba. Web.
Sinclair, W., and Pressinger, R., (1994). “Health Effects Research Summaries”. Malathion Medical Research. Web.
World Health Organization. (2009). “Malathion.” Web.