Hold your breath:The ‘smoke’ from the fumigation may cause itching, burning, prickling sensations on skin, headaches, asthma, sneezing or nausea.file photo

The jury is still out on whether fogging, which is being carried out extensively across the city to control the mosquito population, has any adverse effect on human beings.

Many doctors and researchers note that the insecticide used in fogging is malathion and a synthetic pyrethroid — similar to insecticides that are used in most domestic insect spray cans — that is ‘safe’ for humans.

There is, however, some known adverse reactions include itching, burning, prickling sensations on skin, headaches, convulsions, tremors, facial flushing and swelling, asthma, sneezing, nasal congestion and nausea.

“The ‘fog’ is created by blasting the mixture of insecticide and water into very fine droplets through the fogging machine. The amount of insecticide in the fog is very small, and is dispersed at quantities that can only kill something as small as a mosquito, so at the concentrations used there will be no adverse health effects on people who are occasionally exposed to the fog,” said Dr. Anil Bansal, Delhi Medical Association.

“People aren’t breathing in the fog three times a day. It is an occasional and limited exposure and doesn’t generally harm,” said Dr. Bansal.

Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general at the Centre for Science and Environment, had earlier maintained that fogging is ineffective in containing dengue and has a harmful effect on the health of people. He noted that fogging is able to contain only the adult mosquito, and not the larvae.

Larvicide measures are recognised as an important intervention to prevent large-scale spread of dengue. Targeting adult mosquitoes offers temporary control in limited settings and under ideal conditions, Mr. Bhushan had said.

Environmentalist add the fogging may also kill beneficial insects such as bees and small mammals like mice. It is highly toxic to cats and is considered mildly toxic to birds.

Our code of editorial values

Printable version | Mar 22, 2022 6:39:05 pm | https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/Does-fogging-harm-humans/article15422242.ece