Bugged by automatic sprayers.

Just as houses are made of stones, so is science made of facts. But a pile of stones is not a house, and a collection of facts is not necessarily science. Bugged by Automatic Sprayers Automatic insecticide dispensers are designed to keep restaurants, schools, and other public settings free from annoying and unsanitary flying insects. They may also do something else: sicken at least some of the people who are exposed to the insecticides that are sprayed. According to a report in the 9 June 2000 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, between 1986 and 1999, 97 people who were exposed to insecticides sprayed by automatic dispensers developed a variety of acute ailments including eye, throat, and nose irritation, labored breathing, dizziness, and headache. The cases came to light following a report to the Florida Department of Health on 18 May 1999 that, in the week prior, three people had developed pesticide-related illnesses associated with improperly placed automatic insecticide dispensers. A follow-up investigation reviewed toxic exposure surveillance data collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from a variety of sources, and uncovered that many cases of pesticide-related illness had been associated with automatic insecticide dispensers. Most of the dispenser-related cases involved pyrethrins, naturally occurring chemicals derived from the chrysanthemum. Three cases involved resmethrin, which belongs to the family of pyrethroids, synthetic derivatives of pyrethrins. Out of four acute toxicity categories, with I being the most toxic and IV being the least, the EPA has listed pyrethrins as acute toxicity category III compounds. Although these substances do not cause systemic toxicity in mammals, they may have irritant and sensi-tizing properties, and a study reported in the March 1990 issue of the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry concluded that the chemicals are endocrine disruptors. Resmethrin, too, is classified as an acute toxicity category III compound. While 94 cases of illness over 13 years may seem a small number, report coauthor Geoffrey Calvert, a medical epidemiologist with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, notes it is likely an underestimate. To be included in surveillance data, people must first go to a physician, says Calvert, and be accurately diagnosed as having a pesticide-related illness, and then the physician must report the illness to a state health agency. Even when reporting is mandatory, health care workers often do not comply, says Calvert. " At each one of those steps, cases can get …