The Effects of Mosquito Spray on Infants

An estimated 130 million babies are born each year, and as parents do, millions more of dollars are spent on buying the best baby care products that line the shelves.  Carefully looking through the ingredients on each bottle, parents make sure that such products are suitable for use on their baby to prevent negative side-effects.  But, recent studies have shown that mosquito spray is harmful to babies, delaying motor functions for the young tots.

Naled, the main chemical ingredient in bug repellent, is used in many tropical areas to ward off mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus.  In its success in doing so, it has met a failure in that the chemical results in reduced motor function among infants.

According to Susan Scutti of CNN, “The University of Michigan researchers found that children in China who had the highest prenatal exposure of naled had, at age 9 months, 3% to 4% lower scores on tests of their fine motor skills, which are the small movements of hands, fingers, face, mouth and feet, compared with those with the lowest exposure.”

As the first study of a general-population, previous studies were held in more remote and agricultural settings, where subjects were exposed to higher doses of the chemical.  Such settings include areas in Miama where naled was used for mosquito control and such efforts for combating against the Zika virus.

            Scutti adds that a study was held in China regarding the naled chemical.  She says, “For the study, the researchers examined the umbilical cord blood of about 240 mothers for 30 organophosphate insecticides… At 6 weeks and 9 months, the babies’ motor skills were tested using the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, a well-known assessment tool that looks at gross, fine and total motor abilities.  The assessment also looks at reflexes, stationary (body control), locomotion (movement), grasping and visual-motor integration (eyes and hands coordinated).  At 6 weeks, none of the babies showed deficits in their motor skills.  At 9 months, the researchers found deficits in motor function in infants with prenatal exposure to naled.  Girls appeared to be more sensitive to naled’s effects on motor function than boys, the researchers noted in their study.”

Additional concerns regarding the chemical include deficits leading to other negative side-effects.  It is said that naled degrades to dichlorvos, a toxic chemical, in the presence of sunlight—as mosquito-repellent is usually used outdoors, being in sunlight is inevitable.

But, some have begun to question the science of these recent tests.  Some see that naled is not the culprit, but rather heavy metal exposure and air pollution that could have had a larger impact on these infants, thus lowering their motor functions.

Regardless of the causes, it is clear that some sort of pollution or chemical is affecting this new generation of babies—whether it is, in fact, naled or not, parents must be cautious in using such bug-repellent products on their developing children.

Featured Image via Wikimedia Commons