Pyrethrin fly sprays disable horsewoman and her animals

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Date:  Fri, 14 Jun 2002 17:19:40 -0600
From:  "Judith Becker" <pony4653@msn.com>

I am a 53 yr. Old veteran horsewoman having been raised on a cattle ranch and in close contact with horses before I could walk right up to 9 mos ago when I became disabled. My disability has not come from a horse related accident, as it were. I have been a certified instructor for almost ten years and have operated a training facility and riding school as such for those ten years in Central Texas.

We installed an overhead spray system in our main barn, in an0effort to control the blood-sucking flies that always tormented our horses in all the warm seasons. The vendor told us that the organic pesticide PYRETHRIN was absolutely safe for horses and people...that we could stand under it all day and it would not do a thing to us! After all, it was all-natural.

We used the system with no concerns...had it set to go off several times a day during the warm months. In addition, we used concentrates made from pyrethrins and the synthetic: permectrin, on the horse’s legs, bellies, etc. Even sprayed it into our bare hands and wiped it on their faces.

After several years, the mixes and sprays seemed to lose their effectiveness and we began to notice that the different manufacturers were coming out with products described as Super kill...stronger and stronger versions of these same pyrethrin/permectrin substances.

I was usually the one to administer the insecticides since I was the instructor and I felt it was safe for me to do this work than to have my students do it. This was primarily due to the reaction of some horses to be spooky about the process.

Eventually even the super, enhanced versions of the mixes did not seem to be very effective. A shoer showed up one day using the old fashioned Wipe put out by Farnam years ago, when I was a child. He said it was the only thing on the market today that would keep the flies off the horses’ legs while he worked. We immediately bought that product.

That spring, I began to have a problem with my right foot. It was several weeks after I began to wipe 10 horses down with the Wipe product. My right foot began to drag and I fell several times, very unexpectedly. As the weeks went on, I really began to have trouble with my entire right leg. I started using a cane. My doctor sent me to a neurologist (I have since been to 6 trying to diagnose me with MS/ALS, etc....but the tests all came out negative.

It has now been almost a year...I am virtually paralyzed in both legs. I am suffering from bladder and bowel incontinence, arrhythmia, total chemical sensitivity and the muscle weakness is spreading all over my body. I have been diagnosed with chemical poisoning due to prolonged and acute exposure to pyrethrin/permectrin based pesticides. My primary physician has also diagnosed me with total endocrine collapse and adrenal failure. I was hospitalized with for adrenal … 3 weeks ago and told that if it happens again, it could kill me.

Both my daughters are being tested as well since they have been world champion equestrians and have been exposed somewhat to the same chemicals but not as fully as I have been.

Pyrethrins and permectrin products are still advertised as the safest and most effective fly control substances on the planet. My Chinese doctor, who has helped in the diagnosis, told me moths ago that the product is sent to the US from China, one of the biggest exporters. It has not been used in China for at least 100 years.... due to the discovery that it is extremely toxic to humans and livestock.

By the way, several of our horses were developing mysterious limping problems.... loss of control of their forelegs intermittently. I have been to medical doctor who specializes in nutrition. He is also a horseman. I was told in our meeting that the limping is probably being cause by the pesticides. There has been evidence of this kind of syndrome in horses.... but all of this kind of information is heavily buried and suppressed by the distributor. Has anyone noticed, by the way, that most of these distributors have been suddenly over the past year, been coming out with all natural pesticides.... herbal alternatives to their other products. As we have all discovered, none of them work. But why would these huge companies go to that much trouble in research, development, manufacture and promotion of these herbal products, if there were no problem with the others. Just something to think about.

Update:  

YOU HAVE HEARD MY STORY, BUT I AM GOING TO FORWARD IT TO YOU AGAIN. I AM NOW CONFINED TO A WHEELCHAIR, HAVE LOST THE USE OF MY RIGHT ARM, AND AFTER 30K WORTH OF NEUROLOGICAL EXAMS...I HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED AS OF LAST WEEK, WITH ALS...LOU GEHRIG'S
DISEASE. I HAVE MANY CONFLICTING SYMPTOMS THAT DO NOT FIT W/ ALS...INCLUDING MCS... MULTIPLE CHEM. SENSITIVITY. I HAVE APPEALED TO THREE DIFFERENT ATTY'S FIRMS TRYING TO BUILD A CASE. NONE ARE INTERESTED. NOW I AM GOING TO THE PUBLIC DEFENDER AND RALPH
NADER. JB/TEXAS 

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