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Present in flea collars, repellents and pesticides, pyrethroids can be harmful to people and bees

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Pyrethroid is a synthetic compound that potently mimics the pyrethrins found in plants of the genus chrysanthemum and tanacetum. Present in flea collars, insecticides, shampoos against lice, pesticides, slime removers and repellents, the pyrethroid immobilizes and kills insects. The problem is that it can also be harmful to people and non-target animals such as bees.

What is the pyrethroid and its effects

This synthetic compound emerged in the early 1980s as an alternative to pesticides with greater potential, having the function of combating and controlling pests. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pyrethrins and pyrethroids affect nerve function, immobilizing and eventually killing insects. But pyrethroid-based products can also pose a short- and long-term risk to humans.

Considering that pyrethroids belong to the most widely used insecticide class in the world, it is necessary to consider the advantages of its use in general insect control and the health risks involved in exposure to this substance by non-target individuals.

After 14 years of research with 2,116 adults who participated in a study conducted by Jama International Medicine, it was concluded that exposure to pyrethroid-based insecticides increases the risk of death from all causes and, specifically, three times the chance of dying from heart disease. Scientists took into account other factors that may have influenced the results, including diet, level of physical activity, smoking, alcohol intake, education and income.

But this was not the first time that these insecticides were analyzed. A survey by the US Environmental Protection Agency has shown that the number of health problems in humans - including severe reactions - attributed to pyrethrin and pyrethroid is significant. A review of more than 90,000 adverse reaction reports submitted to the EPA by pesticide manufacturers revealed that pyrethrin and pyrethroid accounted for more than 26 percent of all fatal, severe and moderate accidents involving pesticide use.

According to the report, people died from exposure to these chemicals, including a child, after his mother washed her hair with a head lice shampoo that contained pyrethrins.

Even light contact with these insecticides can cause some short-term side effects. They can cause itching, burning and irritation, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Prolonged exposure to larger amounts can lead to dizziness, nausea, headache, vomiting and loss of consciousness. But as for the long-term effects, not much is known yet.

Effects on bee populations and consequences

Of all pollination methods (movement of water, wind, butterflies, hummingbirds; artificial techniques, etc.), bees seem to have the most efficient. They are fast, can fly in a zigzag pattern and, after a while with the colony installed, they know the best time to collect pollen.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - its acronym in English), 70% of food crops depend on bees. This data, in itself, reveals the importance of bees for humanity. This is without counting the ecosystem services of maintenance of other plant forms, such as forests, which guarantee us, among many things, water.

• The importance of bees to life on the planet

• Disappearance or extinction of bees: how to avoid

The problem is that, frequently, bees have had their populations reduced by pressures of anthropic origin. One of them is the use of pesticides with substances harmful to bees, such as pyrethroids. Several studies (check here: 1, 2, 3, 4) have revealed that pyrethroids used in agriculture can be fatal to bees. When they do not annihilate entire populations - even at low doses - they can cause adverse effects such as alteration in the return flight to the colony, hypothermia and effect knock down (rapid paralysis).

In agriculture, its use is justified to increase the quantity of the harvest, as it combats what, in conventional language, we call "pests". Larks and stink bugs are common examples of pests, as they consume large amounts of vegetables that could be used as products in a short period of time (commodities or food).

However, it is necessary to rethink the concept of pest. After all, all beings and plants are products of a broad ecosystem, and arise from the demands and conditions of the biological system itself.

It is already known that monocultures, which are poor in plant biodiversity, are the ideal scenario for the appearance of pests. Especially if they are installed in regions close to Ecuador, which concentrate a large supply of insects. The result is a vegetable stick with insects highly specialized in devouring them that do not find any obstacles to do so.

Do the benefits of pyrethroids justify its use?

Before we can draw any conclusions about the total ban of the pyrethroid or approve its unrestricted use, there needs to be a debate between civil society, the scientific community, food producers and food markets. commodities. In this debate, guiding questions to be addressed could be: Does the fight against pests justify the use of pyrethroids? What is the cost-effectiveness of fighting mosquitoes with pyrethroids? Wouldn't it be more efficient to use less aggressive or biological pest control methods? Would increasing the agrobiodiversity of crops that feed cities be an alternative to reducing the use of pyrethroids?

Many of our ancestors managed to cultivate and extract what they need to sustain themselves while maintaining the long-term productivity of the land - which monocultures do not do, as they compromise biocapacity. With this background, how much could modern society learn from the original peoples? In a counterexample, we've learned from other civilizations - like those that inhabited Easter Island before the year 900 - that the misuse of natural resources can lead to environmental collapse. In this context, how could a set of small, wrongly made decisions lead to ecocide and how do the issues surrounding pyrethroid use relate to the Earth's total system? Before we support total pesticide release policies and use insecticides indiscriminately, it is worth reflecting.