Mosquito Hub ~ Update 1

Sept 13, 2005
THE DENGUE SCOURGE
Why fog when experts find it ineffective?

THE article, 'Three theories on why dengue is out of control' (The Sunday Times, Sept 11), contained the shocking revelation that several world experts on dengue hold the view that fogging is ineffective in controlling the mosquito population and the spread of the disease.

One of those experts, Dr Paul Reiter, made the point in 1998 after reviewing Singapore's Aedes mosquito control programme.

Another researcher, Dr Duane Gubler, studied the effectiveness of fogging in the 1980s and reached the same conclusion. We are now told that his research forms the basis of the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s current global strategy against dengue.

In other words, the WHO had, about 20 years ago, already adopted the expert opinion of Dr Gubler that fogging was ineffective. And the current WHO regional adviser for vector-borne diseases, Dr Chusak Prasittisuk, shares the same view.

I find this shocking because, all along, we have been told by the National Environment Agency (NEA) that fogging is safe, effective and in accordance with international practice.

That was what the NEA said when, about a year ago, I wrote to this Forum questioning the safety and effectiveness of fogging.

Several readers shared my concerns at that time. One reader pointed out that several major countries no longer practised fogging. Yet the NEA continued to maintain that fogging is safe, effective and widely practised.

Given these new revelations, I would like to ask:

# Is the NEA aware of the studies done by Dr Reiter and Dr Gubler, and the views of Dr Prasittisuk?

# If not, why not?

# If the NEA was, in fact, aware of these studies and expert opinions, why did it keep asserting that fogging is effective? Did the NEA withhold pertinent information from the public in order to justify its practice of widespread fogging?

It is high time we review this practice, which involves pumping toxic pesticides into the environment, merely to, in Dr Reiter's words, 'give people the impression there was a quick fix'.

Richard Seah Siew Sai