Top 10 Lies About West Nile Virus and Anvil by Robert Lederman

Top 10 Lies About West Nile Virus and Anvil

by Robert Lederman

http://www.pesticidefreezone.org/top_10_lies.htm

1. THE ONLY SIDE-EFFECTS OF ANVIL EXPOSURE ARE COUGHING, STUFFY NOSE, ITCHING AND WATERY EYES

Exactly like an allergic reaction to pollen, these responses to the toxic ingredients of Anvil are an attempt by a person's immune system to flush the substances from the body. Mucus nasal secretions, tears and coughing to expel the irritant from the lungs are not the harmful effects of exposure but are simply proof that the body recognizes Anvil as something it wants to get rid of immediately. The symptoms of a disease are not the effects of a disease. If you have emphysema from cigarette smoking you may feel tired and have difficulty breathing. In response, you might use an inhaler and temporarily breath better, but that would hardly mean you had recovered from the disease or from permanent damage to your lung tissue.

The suspected and in many cases already proven long term effects of exposure to Pyrethrins like Anvil include immune system and liver damage, endocrine disruption, proliferation of breast cancer cells, lowered sperm count and cognitive difficulties. The latest science concerning this finds that at even the most minimal exposure serious health effects and endocrine disruption have been observed. The real damage from exposure to these chemicals won't be manifested until long after the itching, runny nose or coughing have stopped. By then, few people will remember or be able to prove the connection between exposure and their illness. Chemical companies, just like cigarette manufacturers, depend on this time lag between exposure and illness to prevent them from being found liable.

2. WEST NILE VIRUS (WNV) IS A DEADLY DISEASE

The Mayor and the media keep referring to WNV as a deadly disease transmitted by killer mosquitoes. Yet, they qualify these claims by saying that WNV is very hard to become infected by and that most people who do get infected recover without any treatment and without experiencing any symptoms. So which is it, a deadly infectious disease, or very mild and hard to become infected by? It can't be both.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) the largest known WNV epidemic in history occurred in Romania in 1996. Approximately 100,000 people allegedly became infected. About 400 of those people became ill with symptoms of encephalitis. Only 15 of those people, all of whom were over 65, died. Considering the level of health care in that country and the poor nutritional status and immune health of its senior citizens, these statistics indicate that the virus is much less dangerous than the common cold. {See: www.naba.org/wnvirus.html} In NYC, according to the Department of Health's own study, of the four NYC residents who they claim died last year from WNV, three were taking immuno-suppressant cancer drugs and the fourth was HIV-positive. . . meaning that only people with severely compromised immune systems die from WNV and that even in those cases death is rare. {See: New York City Department of Health, West Nile Virus: A Briefing, City Health Information Vol. 19, No. 1 (May 2000) www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/doh/html/chi/chi.html }

3. SEVEN PEOPLE DIED LAST YEAR FROM WNV

Every Giuliani press release and every news report prominently mentions that seven people died in the general NYC area last year from WNV. Like the Mayor's crime statistics or the Federal government's claims that the economy has never been better these statements are unverifiable. No name, blood sample or tissue sample of any person who allegedly died from WNV has been made available to independent scientists for confirmation and testing. Every claim of an infected bird, mosquito or human is based on reports by the NYC Department of Health or scientists that work for the CDC or receive funding from them. These are also the same exact source of the spray policy, creating a perfect loop of "proof" justifying their own decision to spray. In science an outside independent source verifying the conclusions and reproducing experimental results is always necessary before any statement can be taken as a fact. The same is generally true in law, in journalism and in business. See the end of this report for an analysis of the reliability of the CDC in this matter.

4. THE PESTICIDE BEING USED, ANVIL, IS NATURAL

Anvil is a synthetic imitation of a naturally occurring substance found in Chrysanthemums. The natural version, which is considered much safer than the synthetic, is far more expensive and is not being used anywhere in NYC. This information is plainly stated in the Mayor's press releases yet he stands up at press conferences directly contradicting it--a good indication of his truthfulness on the entire WNV issue.

Most of the numerous other ingredients in Anvil are synthetic derivatives of petroleum-based chemicals such as Benzene and Piperonyl Butoxide. Many of these ingredients are on the EPA's list of dangerous, toxic and cancer causing substances. They are about as far from natural as you can get.

5. ANVIL IS SAFE AND NON-TOXIC

It is illegal in NY State to describe any pesticide as safe. If you examine the actual texts of the Mayor's safety claims within his press releases you will find that each one is qualified by terms like "relatively safe", "less toxic than" and "safe when used according to directions". The EPA studies on which pesticide safety claims are based are done solely by the pesticide manufacturers themselves, who have an obvious conflict of interest in this regard. The term safe as used in these studies is very misleading, as a reading of the studies themselves makes clear. A determination of safe is reached by feeding rats the chemical or exposing them to its vapors. When only 50% of the rats die, the substance is classified as safe. Every study that concludes that products like Anvil are safe includes reports of tumors in rats, developmental problems in young rats, miscarriages and deformities to name just a few health effects. As long as less than 50% of the rats get these symptoms the product is considered safe. Since human testing of this kind is illegal there is no way to tell, short of massively spraying a population as is being done in NYC, what the effects will be on humans. {See: Cover Story, Kids At Risk 6/19/2000 US News and World Report. www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/000619/poison.htm Also see: www.nih.gov }

6. ANVIL DISSIPATES BY THE NEXT MORNING

Mayor Giuliani claims, and the media dutifully repeats, that these pesticides dissipate within two hours of being sprayed. These claims are deliberately deceptive. As chemical compounds are exposed to air and sunlight they undergo numerous changes. Malathion, for example, becomes Maloxon, a very different substance which is more than 20 times as toxic. It is true to say the Malathion is gone-but what remains in its place is far worse. The claim of dissipation is based on ideal conditions-Anvil on a glass slide in direct sunlight-that have little if anything to do with the actual conditions in NYC. Much of the spraying was done on damp, even rainy days-in direct violation of the manufacturer's instructions. Much of the chemical is deposited in shady areas, on leaves, in cracks and crevices, in A/C filters, in heating vents and in countless other places where there is no direct sunlight. Much of it is tracked or drifts into people's homes where it can persist for weeks, months or years waiting to be inhaled, eaten or absorbed through the skin. The idea that people can enter a public park, jog, picnic and lay on grass that was massively sprayed just two hours before without receiving direct exposure is absurd. Children playing in that grass and then putting their hands in their mouths might just as well have been lined up and given a sample of Anvil to drink.

7. ANVIL KILLS MOST OF THE MOSQUITOES

The most ironic aspect of the spray policy is that, contrary to the Mayor's claims, it does not kill most of the mosquitoes. If it did, the earth, which has endured billions of tons of pesticide exposure, would already be mosquito-free. The opposite is true. Pesticide spraying, according to the NY State Department of Health and even the pesticide manufacturers, directly results in new generations of pesticide-resistant mosquitoes. For those like Mayor Giuliani who missed the past hundred years of science, this process is called natural selection. In insects, natural selection can occur in a period of days, weeks or months because each generation only lives a short time. Reproduction by even one genetically pesticide-resistant mosquito can result in hundreds of resistant offspring who then mate and create an entire population with that same genetic quality.

Studies done in Florida where there is a much more severe mosquito problem, found a 1500% increase in mosquitoes after spraying, virtually all of whom were now pesticide-resistant. Even worse, many mosquito experts believe the immune suppression pesticides cause in all living things makes mosquitoes, birds and humans far more vulnerable to encephalitis infections. Apparently, only mosquitoes exposed to pesticides can get and transmit the infection due to damage to their stomach lining.

Driving spray trucks past the fronts of rows of apartment houses to kill mosquitoes breeding in the backyards is about as effective as shooting a gun in the opposite direction of a target and hoping it will circumvent the entire earth to strike the target from behind. It is however, an excellent technique to guarantee an increase in mosquitoes, dead birds and encephalitis infections thereby justifying more and more spraying. See www.chem-tox.com/brevard/index.htm

8. WE ARE SAVING LIVES BY SPRAYING - IF WE DIDN'T, MANY MORE PEOPLE WOULD GET SICK

The CDC's own studies found that NYC's 1999 so-called WNV epidemic had peaked and was declining more than a month before spraying began. See www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4841a3.htm

9. THE SPRAYING IS BEING DONE BY QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS

While the Clarke Mosquito Control Co. itself may have some qualified pesticide applicators, the spraying in NYC is being done by temporary workers solicited through an ad in the NY Post. These untrained and unqualified workers are being paid $10 an hour to damage their own and everyone else's health-an excellent example of what Giuliani means by creating jobs. In direct violation of OSHA rules and the warnings on the product labels, none of the applicators are wearing protective clothing, respirators or gloves. Because of the heat, most drive the trucks with the windows wide open. The police escorts ordered to precede and follow the spray trucks are likewise totally unprotected and deliberately uninformed about the risks. This is not an oversight or an accident. If the applicators and the police escorts were wearing the type of protective gear required by law, no one would believe the Mayor's claims that the spray is safe.

10. THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO OPPOSE THE SPRAYING ARE ENVIRONMENTALISTS WHO CARE MORE ABOUT BIRDS THAN PEOPLE AND ACTIVISTS WHO OPPOSE ANYTHING GIULIANI DOES

While the loudest voices in opposition to the spraying may include many activists and environmentalists, there are thousands of medical professionals in the NYC area that oppose the spraying. {Contact Rivka Lieber: LieberR@aol.com for a copy of a petition signed by numerous doctors and scientists opposed to the spraying} The media simply refuses to interview any of these people preferring to use sound bites from uninformed NYC residents or Giuliani supporters who believe anything the Mayor says no matter how absurd. Many scientists and health professionals are understandably fearful of losing their jobs, grants from chemical/pharmaceutical companies and their professional reputation if they speak out too loudly. Most medical professionals work for institutions that are dependent on receiving money from the government, from private institutions like Rockefeller University, from the CDC and from corporations that are actually behind the spray policy and the entire WNV panic. For them, publicly opposing this policy could destroy their careers. The same goes for reporters that would like to expose the facts but have been instructed not to.

THE CDC SAYS WE MUST SPRAY-THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE CDC, THE CIA AND THE WNV ISSUE

The CDC bases much of its information concerning international health issues, epidemics and communicable diseases on reports by the CIA, a US governmental agency whose official role includes the dissemination of propaganda and disinformation throughout the world. The CIA oversees CDC operations in areas classified as a potential health threat to national security. The CDC has been implicated in numerous health disasters involving the distribution of vaccines both in the US and in the third world. Many scientists and researchers believe they are the source for a number of diseases that never previously existed. All of these diseases just happen to be associated with bio-warfare research labs working with or run by the CDC, the CIA and/or the U.S. Army. The CIA has a proven track record of misinforming not only foreign governments but other US governmental agencies, the Congress, the US military, the President of the United States and the American people on issues as diverse as the real condition of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Sadamn Hussein's intentions in the Gulf, the state of affairs in Iran and where U.S. tax dollars are actually being spent on covert operations. Even some US Senators now believe the CIA is largely responsible for the crack epidemic in the U.S.

As GW Bush and his likely appointee to be Attorney General-Rudy Giuliani-publicly admit, they get virtually all of their policy "ideas" directly from the Manhattan Institute, a think tank started by Ronald Reagan's CIA director, William Casey. Immediately after WWII, Casey played a major role in bringing thousands of top Nazi scientists and SS intelligence officials to the US. Many of them became employees of the > newly formed, CIA. Most of the pesticides being used in NYC are derived from nerve gasses developed by Nazi scientists. The company that patented and manufactured them in Germany, IG Farben, was a full partner with Rockefeller/Standard Oil before, during and since WWII. After the war, IG Farben was broken up into four companies that are now the world leaders in chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing and research.

Rockefeller/Chase Bank just happens to be the main funder of the Manhattan Institute. No less a high-level source than former Presidents Roosevelt and Truman considered the Rockefellers to be traitors to the U.S. who were actively aiding the Nazis throughout WWII {See The Secret War Against the Jews by Loftus and Aarons}. Among the key issues promoted by the Manhattan Institute, is a campaign to discredit 50 years of science demonstrating that pesticides, petroleum-based chemical pollution and pharmaceuticals manufactured by contemporary spin-offs of Standard Oil/Exxon and IG Farben are dangerous to human health and the environment. All a coincidence? See Peter Huber's books featured on the Manhattan Institute's webpage: www.manhattan-institute.org Also see: www.fair.org/media-outlets/stossel.html for an analysis of John Stossel
and his link to the Manhattan Institute.

Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T. (718) 743-3722
www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html SEE: http://Baltech.org/lederman/spray for a detailed exposition on the West Nile issue and detailed references for many of the statements made in this article. Pay special attention to those about Oravax, the company that has been developing a WNV vaccine invented by the U.S. Army.