New catastrophe hitting the United States: infants particularly exposed

Increase in insecticides in crops, decline in the number of bats, rise in children’s deaths… It's environmental economist Eyal Frank from the University of Chicago who draws the links in the journal Science.

In the United States, farmers are increasingly using insecticides to save their fields. The root of their distress? The decline of bats, major consumers of insects. In the 2000s, bats began to be affected by what is known as "white-nose syndrome." The phenomenon was first identified in New York in 2006.

"White-nose syndrome" is caused by a fungus and causes animals to wake up prematurely from their hibernation, reports the Science-Presse Agency. Bats in this period of premature awakening don't find enough food to survive. In the US, the disease has affected 11 out of the 50 species of bats present. Of the 11 affected species, a 70% reduction (on average) has been recorded.

A causal link?

A decline that has forced farmers in counties where the disease was rampant to increase their use of insecticides by 31%, with their incomes experiencing an unprecedented drop. Calculations made by economist Eyal Frank. He was able to conclude an excess mortality among infants under one year old, more than 1300 deaths in the affected counties. For this segment of the population, this signifies an average increase of 8% in infant mortality.

As to whether there is a causal link… As Roel Vermeulen, a Dutch environmental epidemiologist, points out the decline in farmers' incomes caused by the decline in bats may also be behind this increase in infant mortality.

(MH with Raphaël Liset - Source: Science-Presse Agency - Illustration: © Unsplash)