I’m certainly no expert, but a quick look at AMF says the bednets are treated with Pyrethroid, which is” usually broken apart by sunlight and the atmosphere in one or two days” (Wikipedia) This is let’s me be skeptical of whether incorporating the environmental and health effects really make a big difference. Furthermore, though again this is just my intuition, agricultural farming involves much worse doses of insecticides that contaminate streams and so far we have not observed any large-scale effects of environmental collapse or infertility that would justify questioning the cost-effectiveness of AMF. (I’m not questioning that our use of insecticides very likely leads to the decline of insects and diminishes fertility though, I just think that AMF is a tiny factor in this.)
Please do not cherrypick your facts regarding pyrethroids. The full information provided by your source is as follows:
“Pyrethroids are toxic to insects such as bees, dragonflies, mayflies, gadflies, and some other invertebrates, including those that constitute the base of aquatic and terrestrial food webs.They are toxic to aquatic organisms including fish.
Biodegradation
Pyrethroids are usually broken apart by sunlight and the atmosphere in one or two days, however when associated with sediment they can persist for some time.
Pyrethroids are unaffected by conventional secondary treatment systems at municipal wastewater treatment facilities. They appear in the effluent, usually at levels lethal to invertebrates.”
Malaria is a serious global health issue, with around 200 million cases per year. As such, great effort has been put into the mass distribution of bed nets as a means of prophylaxis within Africa. Distributed mosquito nets are intended to be used for malaria protection, yet increasing evidence suggests that fishing is a primary use for these nets, providing fresh concerns for already stressed coastal ecosystems. While research documents the scale of mosquito net fisheries globally, no quantitative analysis of their landings exists. The effects of these fisheries on the wider ecosystem assemblages have not previously been examined. In this study, we present the first detailed analysis of the sustainability of these fisheries by examining the diversity, age class, trophic structure and magnitude of biomass removal. Dragnet landings, one of two gear types in which mosquito nets can be utilised, were recorded across ten sites in northern Mozambique where the use of Mosquito nets for fishing is common. Our results indicate a substantial removal of juveniles from coastal seagrass meadows, many of which are commercially important in the region or play important ecological roles. We conclude that the use of mosquito nets for fishing may contribute to food insecurity, greater poverty and the loss of ecosystem functioning.”
Sorry for cherry-picking there. Seems like the insecticides really do have unintended consequences.
I am still skeptical of the effect though since Holden Karofsky says here that fishing with the nets seems pretty rare.
I think my point still stands though. While there will be some environmental damage from the nets, it’s very unlikely to outweigh the human lives saved.
I think the strongest point here is that it’s not at all clear whether the organisms in the streams that may be killed by the insecticides have net positive lives. See “How good is the life of an insect”
In any way, I encourage you to make a detailed investigation here to prove your point. I think there is a ~5% probability I would update that malaria nets are a lot less good than I thought.
I’m certainly no expert, but a quick look at AMF says the bednets are treated with Pyrethroid, which is” usually broken apart by sunlight and the atmosphere in one or two days” (Wikipedia) This is let’s me be skeptical of whether incorporating the environmental and health effects really make a big difference. Furthermore, though again this is just my intuition, agricultural farming involves much worse doses of insecticides that contaminate streams and so far we have not observed any large-scale effects of environmental collapse or infertility that would justify questioning the cost-effectiveness of AMF. (I’m not questioning that our use of insecticides very likely leads to the decline of insects and diminishes fertility though, I just think that AMF is a tiny factor in this.)
Please do not cherrypick your facts regarding pyrethroids. The full information provided by your source is as follows:
“Pyrethroids are toxic to insects such as bees, dragonflies, mayflies, gadflies, and some other invertebrates, including those that constitute the base of aquatic and terrestrial food webs.They are toxic to aquatic organisms including fish.
Biodegradation
Pyrethroids are usually broken apart by sunlight and the atmosphere in one or two days, however when associated with sediment they can persist for some time.
Pyrethroids are unaffected by conventional secondary treatment systems at municipal wastewater treatment facilities. They appear in the effluent, usually at levels lethal to invertebrates.”
See also:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-019-01280-0
“Abstract
Malaria is a serious global health issue, with around 200 million cases per year. As such, great effort has been put into the mass distribution of bed nets as a means of prophylaxis within Africa. Distributed mosquito nets are intended to be used for malaria protection, yet increasing evidence suggests that fishing is a primary use for these nets, providing fresh concerns for already stressed coastal ecosystems. While research documents the scale of mosquito net fisheries globally, no quantitative analysis of their landings exists. The effects of these fisheries on the wider ecosystem assemblages have not previously been examined. In this study, we present the first detailed analysis of the sustainability of these fisheries by examining the diversity, age class, trophic structure and magnitude of biomass removal. Dragnet landings, one of two gear types in which mosquito nets can be utilised, were recorded across ten sites in northern Mozambique where the use of Mosquito nets for fishing is common. Our results indicate a substantial removal of juveniles from coastal seagrass meadows, many of which are commercially important in the region or play important ecological roles. We conclude that the use of mosquito nets for fishing may contribute to food insecurity, greater poverty and the loss of ecosystem functioning.”
Sorry for cherry-picking there. Seems like the insecticides really do have unintended consequences.
I am still skeptical of the effect though since Holden Karofsky says here that fishing with the nets seems pretty rare.
I think my point still stands though. While there will be some environmental damage from the nets, it’s very unlikely to outweigh the human lives saved.
I think the strongest point here is that it’s not at all clear whether the organisms in the streams that may be killed by the insecticides have net positive lives. See “How good is the life of an insect”
In any way, I encourage you to make a detailed investigation here to prove your point. I think there is a ~5% probability I would update that malaria nets are a lot less good than I thought.