House Republicans push to allow pesticide spraying in water sources

Zika-carrying mosquitoes immune to insecticides

(NaturalNews) Thanks to a successful rebranding effort, House Republicans managed to pass the Zika Control Act in May, voting to loosen pesticide restrictions in a purported attempt to stop the spread of the virus, which is believed to cause severe birth defects, including microcephaly.Republicans have tried passing the bill on five different occasions, disguising it as something new each time, according to Democrats speaking to The Hill , who add that the legislation violates key provisions of the Clean Water Act.Zika fear promulgated by the mainstream media gave Republicans the required ammunition to advance the legislation. However, Senate Democrats successfully blocked the bill on Tuesday, accusing the other party of trying to "score political points, jam through unpalatable policy changes and cut money from other programs, including provisions that would ... weaken environmental restrictions on pesticide use," according to The New York Times The bill would have allocated $1.9 billion towards funding to fight Zika – including $600 million intended to combat Ebola – while placing Americans at risk for exposure to harmful pesticides that have been continually linked to a host of serious illnesses.If approved, the Zika Control Act would have eliminated a permit required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to spray federally approved pesticides into bodies of water in an attempt to squash Zika populations.But spraying pesticides into waterways wouldn't have done anything to combat Zika anyway, because experts are now reporting that mosquitoes carrying the virus have grown resistant to the very insecticides lawmakers voted to ease restrictions on.(Protect yourself from mosquitoes using the Health Ranger's chemical-free bug spray ).Scientists are realizing that "the primary insecticide used to kill virus-carrying mosquitoes isn't completely effective," reports the"These mosquitoes are very difficult to control and we're finding right now that we might have a resistance issue to the pesticides we use," T. Wayne Gayle, executive director of the Lee County Mosquito Control District, told members of Florida's congressional delegation."There's active research going right now to determine the extent of the problem (but) that's a very significant concern right now that needs attention," Gayle added.In other words, our lawmakers tried to implement legislation that blatantly favors the chemical industry, while doing absolutely nothing to fight the spread of the Zika virus , which by the way, isone of America's greatest threats, as the media would have you believe.Countless other factors threaten public health far more than Zika likely ever will. For example, we now know that pesticide exposure is linked to Alzheimer's disease and dementia , cancer, birth defects, endocrine disruption, reproductive complications, asthma and allergies.One out of every four deaths in the U.S. is a result of cancer, and one out of every nine adults over the age of 65 has Alzheimer's disease. Zika, on the other hand, has reportedly caused microcephaly in just five babies born in the U.S.Autism has also been linked to pesticides . In April, researchers presented data showing a strong correlation between rates of autism and developmental disorders among children living in areas where aerial spraying for mosquitoes has been used since 2003.The bottom line is that we need to focus on reducing and preventing the chronic illnesses that weare being caused by pesticides, and not jump to the next scary topic that has not affected even a fraction of a fraction of the U.S. population.