DDT Pesticide Linked To Alzheimer's Disease

A study on Alzheimer's disease on 86 Alzheimer's patients and 79 healthy elderly controls show that the Alzheimer's patients have four times higher levels of DDE in their blood compared to the healthy controls. DDE is a metabolite (substance produced during metabolism) of DDT.

Although the cause of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) is not yet clear, researchers believe that factors such as genetic, environmental and lifestyle can influence the development of the disease. The latest finding linking DDT to AD reinforces the link between the environment and AD.

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is a pesticide used in agriculture and mosquito control. It was used in the United States from the 1940s until its ban in 1972 over environmental and ecological concerns. Despite the US ban, DDT is still being used in many countries. One major reason for its use is the control of malaria spreading mosquitoes.

DDT can last up to ten years in the body. People are at risk to continuous exposure to the chemical because it can persist in the environment for a long time and that food products that come from countries using DDT will contain traces of the pesticide. This can also explain why elderly people are more susceptible to Alzheimer's disease. Scientist believe the metabolite DDE accumulates in the tissues over the years. As people get older, the levels of DDE rises making them more susceptible to AD.

In 2006, the World Health Organization called for DDT's reintroduction to fight malaria in African countries.

Commercial Sonic Devices Using Ultrasonic Frequencies Ineffective Against Bed Bugs

Studies initially show that ultrasonic bed bug repellers have no effect in the dispersion or eradication of these blood sucking insects.

Bed bug infestations have been in the news and have garnered much mainstream attention. From popular personalities to the common everyday person, no one is spared from these small blood sucking insects.

The bed bug (Cimex lectularius) are small wingless insects that feed on blood. They are guided to feed by the carbon dioxide exhaled by their victims. Although these bugs are associated to feed at night, they are not exclusively nocturnal.

Bed bugs does not cause any major illness. They do irritate the skin and can cause rashes or can be harmful for people with allergies. Most suffer psychological trauma more than anything when it comes to bed bugs.

Exposure to Pesticide and Head Injury Resulting To Loss of Consciousness Increases Risk of Parkinson's Disease

A new study on Parkinson's Disease suggest that people who have experience a head injury and exposure to pesticide increases the likelihood of developing Parkinson's Disease by a factor of three.

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a motor system disorder. This results in the affected person to experience tremors (uncontrollable shaking), muscle stiffness, balance and coordination problems, slowness of movement and a change in walking and posture. Although tremors are often associated with Parkinson's, some people do not experience this problem.

No Evidence Neonicotinoid Pesticides Cause Bees Colony Collapse Disorder

Since 2006, beekeepers have noticed something wrong with the hives of honeybees they maintain. The colonies of bees were slowly disappearing. This phenomenon is called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and its cause is still a mystery.

CCD is different from a colony dying out because the queen bee has expired or is no longer present. With CCD, the queen is still alive and present and the capped brood (bee eggs and larve) are still unhatched. This is peculiar because bees never leave the hive until the brood has hatched.

Colony Collapse Disorder is a global phenomenon. Countries experiencing CCD are Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Bee hives in Switzerland and Germany also are suffering from CCD in a lesser extent and there are reports that Taiwan is affected as well.

Although crops such as corn, wheat and rice are wind pollinated, fruits and vegetables are dependent on honeybee pollination. 80% of all flowering plants rely on honeybee pollination.

CCD is a very serious matter. Honeybees are responsible for more than 30% of the world's food. Pollination by bees is heavily relied on by agricultural crops and the number of bee colonies has fallen by 45 percent in the last 60 years. The United States has resorted to importing bees from Australia, something not done since the 1920s.

Theories abound on the exact reason for CCD such as malnutrition, pathogens and immunodeficiencies, mites and parasites, fungus, pesticides, beekeeping practices, and even electromagnetic radiation created by power lines along agricultural land. But these remain theories. After six years of extensive research and observation, the mystery still lingers and scientists are still baffled.

Pesticides not yet proven guilty of causing honeybee declines

The impact of crop pesticides on honeybee colonies is unlikely to cause colony collapse, according to a paper in the journal Science today (20 September 2012). More research is now needed to predict the impact of widely-used agricultural insecticides, called neonicotinoids, on honeybee populations.

UK scientists from the University of Exeter and Food and Environment Agency highlight flaws in previous research (published in Science, April 2012) that predicted that neonicotinoids could cause honeybee colony collapse. Neonicotinoids are among the most widely-used agricultural insecticides and honeybees ingest residues of the pesticides as they gather nectar and pollen from treated plants.

The previous research has been cited by scientists, environmentalists and policy-makers as evidence of the future impact of these pesticides on honeybees. It is likely that the research was instrumental in the French government's recent decision to ban the use of thiamethoxam, a neonicotinoid that is the active ingredient of Cruiser OSR, a pesticide produced by the Swiss company Syngenta.