Fascinating! Are there any rebuttals to the comments available? I’m particular interested in the replies to:
Synthetic insecticides may or may not be worse, part of the problem is that synthetic pesticides do not primarily work by mutagenesis like many natural ones to. They are neurotoxins (organophosphates, pyrethrins, DDT, carbamates), endocrine disruptors (juvenile hormones).
As I’m more concerned about neurotoxicity (if any) than carcinogens
The claim is a bit misleading. Pyrethrin is in fact a natural pesticide, derived from chrysanthemums; the pyrethroids are semisynthetic derivatives of pyrethrin and work similarly. Phytoestrogens are a huge class of natural endocrine disruptors, although they are probably not nearly as potent or specific as the ones used for insect control.
It’s also worth noting that insects have very different neurochemistry from vertebrates, and some of the neurotoxic pesticides affect receptors that vertebrates don’t seem to have at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxE9sYatPAs
Fascinating! Are there any rebuttals to the comments available? I’m particular interested in the replies to:
As I’m more concerned about neurotoxicity (if any) than carcinogens
The claim is a bit misleading. Pyrethrin is in fact a natural pesticide, derived from chrysanthemums; the pyrethroids are semisynthetic derivatives of pyrethrin and work similarly. Phytoestrogens are a huge class of natural endocrine disruptors, although they are probably not nearly as potent or specific as the ones used for insect control.
It’s also worth noting that insects have very different neurochemistry from vertebrates, and some of the neurotoxic pesticides affect receptors that vertebrates don’t seem to have at all.
Of course, that’s from the perspective of cancer, while we’ve been seeing worse things from other biological effects.