Greenpen

I think normal paints contain insecticide as a matter of routine.

A long time ago I worked for a company doing research on insecticides and the builders used normal paint on a new insectory they had built. Because this paint contained insecticide this would somewhat affect their actual research so it had to be removed. But it diffused into the plaster and brickwork which meant that a layer of brick had to be removed too. Lots of fuss!

Sorry, nothing to do with aeroplanes but perhaps insecticides are all around us, like it or not?

Globaliser

When did FT become a place for the venting of mere unsubstantiated opinion?

OverThereTooMuch

Interesting info from a FA union (including a slightly dated list of US airlines that use it). Apparently they don't feel it's so safe.

http://ashsd.afacwa.org/?zone=/union...e=HealthIssues

To Eat.To Drink

Symptoms of malaria include fever and flu-like illness, including shaking chills, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. Malaria may cause anemia and jaundice (yellow coloring of the skin and eyes) because of the loss of red blood cells. Symptoms usually appear between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. If not treated, malaria can quickly become life-threatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs. Infection with one type of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, if not promptly treated, may cause kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma, and death. In many parts of the world, the parasites have developed resistance to a number of malaria medicines. http://www.malaria.com/overview/malaria-symptoms-causes

We could continue to play disease top-trumps if you wish but ultimately it comes down to risk v benefit. It may well be that the spray causes some symptoms. It also costs money and takes time and logistical organisation. The WHO have determined that these risks outweigh the benefits. They may be wrong but I am not in a position to offer evidence of this so I accept their recommendation.

Again, if you feel you have access to clinical evidence that has not already been considered, you have a moral duty to present this to WHO.

PeterNem

I'm not sure I'd trust the impartiality of a union - certainly in the UK I don't have much respect for the various workers unions. They usually are incapable of objectively looking at the bigger picture.

Jenbel

The active ingredient - permethrin - is the insecticide used in treating head lice. It has very low toxicity to mammals (except bizarrely cats (so if your cats get head lice, don't use this to treat them)) but is pretty toxic to fish. It's a good general purpose insecticide, has been in used for decades and the risks are generally well known.

I'd rather be sprayed than spend 12 hours on a plane with a mosquito carrying malaria. YMMV.

ColdWalker

It's not just the spread of disease that needs to be considered but also the potential damage to flora, particularly crops, and fauna. Some of you may recall the recent concern over the impact of Africanised hybrid bees displacing native honey bees. I understand they have had a significant impact on honey bees in South America (Hiddy?). There have been similar scares of the years over insects bought in to the UK on fruit with concern over their impact on wheat crops, although these have never proved the epidemic that was headlined.

henkybaby

There is always someone who can see the danger in something. There must be a term for that.

To Eat.To Drink

Paranoid?

To Eat.To Drink

Absolutely. Not exactly peer-reviewed!

OverThereTooMuch

Fair point, and that's basically what I was saying. Don't just trust the info that people want to give you.

LearningToFly

I will try to reach 15000 posts without expressing any opinion that could be considered unsubstantiated by some.

Greenpen

Don't trust employers either, or the government or the quangos or the politicians or the rich........

To Eat.To Drink

Or what you read on fora...

IAN-UK

Well spotted!

Organisations set up to protect the interests of specific groups are unlikely to include impartiality among their aims.