Malathion Case Study

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I am here at this meeting tonight to discuss the possible affects that Malathion, a chemical used in this towns choice of mosquito population management.
This chemical has been proven to work on mosquitos and other nuisance insects as an effective form of pesticide. The chemical kills the “pests” by binding to an enzyme known as acetylcholinesterase at the nerve endings of the target organisms. What this means is that it binds to the nerve endings causing an overstimulation of the organism’s nervous system, which results in death. 1 “Malathion was first registered for use in the United States in 1956 by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and it is now regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA)”.
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Exposure of Malathion can cause “Toxicity” in animals and humans alike. Should an animal inhale, ingest, or absorb small to large amounts of Malathion, effect can result in overstimulation in the nervous system, which can cause excessive salvation of the mouth, excessive production of tears, vomiting, and another side effect being reduced heart rate. These are only a small handful of possible side effects. Now in humans the exposure of Malathion via inhalation, ingestion, and through skin absorption can be greater with many side effects. Some of the effects are excessive perspiration, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, paralysis, insomnia, increase or decrease in blood pressure, headache, confusion, seizures, the list goes on and it can get much worse for …show more content…
Now as we know Malathion is primarily used in agriculture so the human to chemical contact is limited in terms of the consumer. Now since we are talking about using this as a way to combat our local mosquito problem, that means that Malathion will be used in many public areas that will result in daily contact. The main targets to be covered will be parks, walkways, and business centers where people are most likely to interact with the pests. This will cause definite exposure to humans via contact of the skin from walking in the grass, inhalation from workers spraying the chemical around town, and ingestion by the chemical washing off into our cities drainage system and placing it into the water

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