Havana syndrome: Exposure to neurotoxin may have been cause, study suggests
cbc.ca
cbc.ca
Other things with insecticidal properties: gasoline, bleach, car windshields, and bricks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEET
https://www.beyondpesticides.org/programs/mosquitos-and-inse...
DEET isn’t a cholinesterase inhibitor.
And in terms of cholinesterase inhibition, there was a 2009 paper that said it was. Digging into it, it was when applied in vitro at a concentration of 20uM, which you’d need to drink hundreds of milliliters to achieve.
Which apparently is a thing that is done, going by the bizarre link in geomark's post above.
People are weird.
Well now I'm 30 and so far things seem to be ok! Fingers crossed
Watching this video made me facepalm really hard.
[1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-sisters-died-...
On sligthly unrelated and personal note, I made the mistake to pass an MRI with gadolinium based contrast (refuse it if you have choice!) months ago and the lasting effects are still a huge toll on my health (difficulties to think, talk and sleep, skin and paint raidiness, cardiac and sexual (erectile and nearly no spermatogenese, maybe linked to thyroïd?) issues. I hope this isn't permanent but there is no improvement in sigth, and no explaination for why it wasn't filtered (creatinine level from a blood test months after the incident was on the lower end but still in the normals brackets) that could accord me support from a nephrologist or other specialist to get rid of the deposits.
In those cases the authorities are more aggressive in the use of mass fumigation, particularly during the summer and autumn; but still I don't think that such elevated frequency produces the effects shown in the article, for the general population, that is.
It is true that we're particularly vulnerable to zika, chikungunya, yellow fever, and dengue fever (especially in 2016); and what I can easily imagine (and conjecture) is that diplomatic personnel were overly (and rightly) concerned, and liberally applied these products with more zeal than necessary. Thus, increased their exposition to these chemicals.
Also, the diplomatic buildings are likely well sealed and air conditioned while I suspect local buildings use more natural cooling (open windows and the breeze) and are thus better ventilated.
- Neurological studies show actual damage to the same region of the brain for these diplomats
- Pesticides (organophosphates) are put out as a candidate theory.
- Research shows people whose residences were sprayed MORE with pesticide had greater symptoms, adding strong evidence
- Mass Hysteria is dismissed as a theory, as the group of people experiencing it is highly vetted and because the diagnosis is only applicable when no underlying cause is present. In this case, the actual measurement of the brain show there is damage, ruling out the theory.
This suggests that in fact it was the US government (following the host government's lead) that introduced the toxin into their environment. If so, it seems like the Cubans may be owed an apology.
But did the embassy use stronger concentration than Cuba? Or a different agent? Are any local Havanans experiencing these symptoms?
> The symptoms experienced by the victims — headaches, hearing loss, cognitive problems, loss of balance, etc. — are frequently found in the general population, these scientists argued, and can be attributed to many causes.
This blog post explains these issues in more detail: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2018/04/07/ba...
That said, it would be very interesting if they can show brain injuries from exposure to common pesticides. I wonder what impact such result would have on millions of farm workers or even on people living close to highways.
I distinctly remember the internet telling me thousand-fold of their absolute confidence that this was mass hysteria, usually with the pose of a really exciting contrarian theory and some blanket dismissal of "so-called experts" and the "mainstream media's" unwillingness to present that idea with similar conviction.
The second-ranking theory was, IIRC, a conspiracy by the US to create the pretext to invade Cuba. I guess the plans changed.
Wow, that is really alarming. I would never feel comfortable with that inside my home or office.
Like, "Hmm, what about this giant cloud of bug spray? Maybe I'm allergic or something?"
Why did they jump to, "The Cubans must have Marvin the Martian's P-U-38 Explosive Space Modulator that they're shooting at my ears."
[1]https://nypost.com/2019/06/28/fbi-to-release-toxicology-resu...
In 1975 the Iraqi ministry of agriculture negotiated with a U.S. company, Pfaudler, for a contract to build a pesticide production plant. The deal eventually fell through because Pfaudler did not understand why the Iraqis insisted on manufacturing Amiton instead of some safer alternative.
Dogs, for instance, can't handle theobromine.
Be very, deadly careful not to get it on your skin. You can hit LD50 pretty quickly by dousing yourself in liquid stimulants.
Adding dish soap and black pepper is supposed to help as well.
It's basically tiny sharp sand. Doesn't hurt squishy skin, but slices open exoskeletons causing bugs to dehydrate to death.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latin-america/u-s-officials-sus...
" The suspicion that Russia is likely behind the alleged attacks is backed up by evidence from communications intercepts, known in the spy world as signals intelligence, amassed during a lengthy and ongoing investigation involving the FBI, the CIA and other U.S. agencies. The officials declined to elaborate on the nature of the intelligence. "
However, if you're looking for a reason you can always find one. From the article, it sounds like the spraying of pesticides was "more than usual" which might mean it was done intentionally to appear as an accident, since the spraying is a good cover.
I expect this would be easy enough to check on if they only sprayed with more frequency at diplomatic residences and the embassy.
Edit: a few replies here are really more thoughtful than my comment. I recommend reading them :)
On the other hand, unless things have changed considerably since my day, "they", would almost certainly be American diplomatic services. That's who would direct the spraying operations at those residences, not the Cubans.
The Cubans would have no involvement with those spraying operations, however, you would think Cubans would still spray the neighborhood just as they would any other neighborhood. That said, again, the problem was likely us spraying our diplomats' homes and offices multiple times more because, to our minds, the Cuban spraying was not enough.
We are at the point where we need to confirm the hypothesis. If the hypothesis is confirmed we owe Cuba and Russia an apology.
We are at the point where there is a very much more plausible theory than the one that was used to throw accusations around suggesting that a little more circumspection was indeed, required. Somebody should be accountable for that lack of circumspection. Was it incompetence? Inexperience? Stupidity? Something more nefarious? (eg pointing and shouting enemy action for any and all the reasons people do this). Worth finding out and acting on. We'd probably prefer people be competant dealing with these sorts of accusations as a risk mitigation strategy alone.
They just happened to find a very receptive audience both politically and media-wise for their paranoia recently.
Russia et al blame everything on the west too and we don't demand apologies from their propaganda departments.
This is compatible in my view to a russian interference in the midst of warming relations between Cuba and the US/Canada. The diplomats seems ro be the only members of the embassy to be affected and the russians know how to not leave their footprint when they don't want to (e.g. not Novitchok or Polonium).
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/science/sonic-attack-cuba...