Zika Panic: “STOP KISSING!”
The mosquito-spread Zika virus is suspected of causing birth defects. As a result, public health authorities recently have warned women in Zika-infected countries to stop getting pregnant for the next few years or even indefinitely. The problem (or the absurdity) is that the Zika virus is spreading throughout most of the world, including Africa, Asia, North and South America, the Pacific, and now Europe.
But like a bad infomercial on late-night television, “Wait! There’s more!” Now we are told that Zika might transmit not only by mosquito, but also by … kissing!
Yes, it’s official. Public health experts in Brazil – ground zero for the Zika panic – are now telling people to stop kissing:
“A Brazilian health official … suggested pregnant women avoid kissing people other than a regular partner or sharing cutlery, glasses and plates with people who have symptoms of the virus.”
Stop getting pregnant. Stop kissing. Basically, most of the world is being told to stop procreating … for health reasons!
If we have reached the point where people are told to stop kissing, perhaps we’ve also reached the point to consider other, equally extraordinary measures….like targeting insects that spread diseases. For example, can we, finally, after 60 years of hysteria, reconsider responding with more widespread use of DDT? It is a tried-and-true, sensationally effective means to stop mosquito-spread diseases like Zika. Despite the claimed and false side effects of harming bird populations (very similar to the devastation to predatory bird species caused by the environmentally cherished wind turbines), perhaps DDT should be “on the table” as a response option instead of mandating human population controls.
