Risk Of Malathion
...Risk of Malathion 2
Our great city of Genericville has been presented with a solution to the West Nile Virus (WNV), a known disease that affects the nervous system that is spread by mosquitoes. The solution is called Malathion, an insecticide spray that kills mosquitoes and the spreading of WNV. The following report is based on the data collected in order to reach a sound decision and handed over to the city council. Furthermore, the decision was based on the four steps of risk assessment; hazard identification, dose-response, exposure and risk characterization.
Hazard Identification
According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), there are no known ill-effects such as cancer or birth defects that can be caused by using Malathion. All the test case studies have been inconclusive in there findings of such ill-effects. The agency did however; report that there would be a significantly high number of cases of Malathion-related illnesses with only four of those becoming possibly fatal, if exposure was in a high concentrated area of treatment or ingested intentionally in an attempted suicide. Malathion is an organophosphate insecticide that is preferably applied by ground and aerial spraying because of the low toxicity to humans, mammals and birds as compared with other types of insecticides (EPA, 2000, a, b). In addition, because Malathion is toxic to organisms in water, application directly to bodies of water is avoided at all costs (ATSDR, 2001).
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