Miami Beach protests against use of Naled to fight Zika-carrying mosquitos

Aerial spraying to kill Zika-carrying mosquitoes in Miami Beach is set to begin on Friday despite growing protests over the use of the controversial insecticide Naled, which is banned across Europe because of concerns over its safety.

Health officials in Florida ordered the spraying as the number of locally acquired cases of the disease continued to rise, with new figures from the state’s department of health on Wednesday recording 56 non-travel-related infections, mostly in Miami Beach and the nearby Wynwood neighbourhood.

But the decision to use Naled, a potent neurotoxin that kills mosquitoes on contact, which opponents claim can cause birth defects and which was blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees earlier this month following aerial spraying in South Carolina, has prompted fiery protests in Miami Beach. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that Naled is safe.

Several hundred demonstrators, some wearing gas masks and carrying placards denouncing the use of Naled as “lunacy”, attended a lively public debate at Miami Beach city hall on Wednesday. At the meeting, county officials agreed to postpone spraying for 24 hours until Friday, but said it would be followed by another early-morning round on Sunday and others in each of the two following weekends.

“I don’t particularly want to do this, we tried everything not to get to this point,” said Carlos Giménez, the mayor of Miami-Dade County, to jeers from many in the audience.

Testing earlier this month showed that adult mosquitoes collected in Miami Beach were found to be carrying the Zika virus. The county, which has jurisdiction over Zika-fighting efforts, has until now sprayed at street level using the organic larvicide bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (BTi), which does not kill adult mosquitoes.

“We need to do this to knock down this population of mosquitoes and knock down the occurrence of Zika in Miami Beach, and stop this problem here right now,” Giménez said.

He repeated earlier assurances from Dr Celeste Philip, the Florida surgeon general, and from officials of the CDC that Naled was safe.

A CDC information sheet about aerial spraying says the insecticide has been used “extensively” in the US since the 1950s, and has already been effective in countering Zika in Miami’s Wynwood district.

But Naled opponents, including elected officials in Miami Beach, are outraged at the use of an organophosphate banned by the European commission in 2012 and sent back to the mainland by Alejandro García Padilla, the governor of Puerto Rico, in July when the CDC sent a shipment to the Caribbean island to combat the escalating Zika outbreak in the US commonwealth.

“It’s a powerful neurotoxin and the risks associated with it are unknown,” Miami Beach commissioner Michael Grieco, who hosted the public forum on Wednesday, told the Guardian.

“I don’t care if it’s been used for one week, one decade or 50 years, it means nothing when there are studies out there and the jury’s still out on whether even a low dose of Naled can be harmful to animals, children or adults. People just don’t want it.

“A lot of people are pulling their kids from school on Friday and going away for the weekend; a lot have left town and don’t plan on coming back until October. It’s a shame that people have to flee from their own homes.”

The meeting also heard from Wynwood residents, who said they had been affected by aerial spraying in Miami’s arts and design district, which is also a designated “Zika zone”.

“I’m not a scientist and I’m not a doctor, but I know that when I go in my backyard and my tongue is shaking for four hours and I am ready to rush myself to the emergency room, something in that chemical is not right,” said Evo Love, an artist with a Wynwood studio.

Further protests took place at city hall on Thursday as demonstrators stepped up their opposition to the spraying.

“If I was the county mayor, I would listen to the residents that are most directly affected,” Grieco said. “If I was using the cover, as Giménez is, that the Florida governor is going to do it anyway, I would call the governor and stand up for my people.

“I’m speaking for a lot of people and they are very unhappy. What happens if these four doses are ineffective and they want to turn this into a long-term project? I can tell you right now that this will be publicly and repeatedly readdressed if there is any inclination to go beyond the four rounds they are claiming they are going to do. The residents and myself are not going to take this lying down.”

Miami Beach protests against use of Naled to fight Zika-carrying mosquitos

Dr Michael Mosley"s Quickly Beach 5:2 diet program: Week 4 update

DIARY

D1: Eat. Bread roll for breakfast, salad for lunch, a huge handful of cherries at 5pm, and a salad with tuna and egg for supper. Followed by an ice cream – dark chocolate, since you ask. Oh and a glass of rose. Cals: 1500

D2: Eat. Bread roll for breakfast, a cheese baguette for lunch, and vegetarian lasagne at 7pm with two glasses of white wine. Cals: 2,000

D3: Fast. Nothing all day – then a bread roll, with a mixed salad and chilli prawns. 500 cals.

D4: Eat. Bread roll for breakfast, followed by one churros at 11.30am. Skipped lunch to snack on a handful of crisps with a beer at 5pm. Healthy salad for supper with frozen yogurt. Two glasses rose Cals: 2,200

D5: Eat. Bread roll for breakfast, with an egg salad baguette and glass of wine at lunch. Supper is a vegetable curry, with small helpings of Nan bread and rice, a fruit and yoghurt pudding, and a glass of rose. Cals: 2,000

D6: Eat. Scrambled eggs on rye toast. At 1pm, a crepe with mushroom and cheese, and a small Iced bakewell tart. Supper is baked beans on toast with a bowl of blueberries afterwards. Cals: 1900

D7: Fast. Black tea and coffee; smoked salmon salad and miso soup. Small bowl of low fat natural yoghurt. Cals: 500

RESULT: Loss 0lb.

VERDICT:

Holidays are hard – even on the Fast Diet. Looking back it didn’t feel like I was being especially indulgent, but there seems to have been more ice cream than I recall, and certainly more wine than I intended. The bread was hard to avoid, and although I chose healthy salads often (and avoided the dressing trap), I must admit to being terminally bored of iceberg lettuce and tinned tuna.

I am disappointed that the scales haven’t shifted – but perhaps not surprised.

Back home, and now it’s time to knuckle down and really shed some more pounds in time for my Daily Telegraph photo-shoot in two weeks’ time. Can there be greater motivation?

NEXT WEEK’S CHALLENGE: going for a 3:4 week and lots of HIT…

The Fast Beach Diet by Mimi Spencer (Short Books, RRP £6.99) is available to order from Telegraph Books at £3.99 + £1.10 p&p. Call 0844 871 1514 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk

Dr Michael Mosley"s Quickly Beach 5:2 diet program: Week 4 update

Dr Michael Mosley"s Quick Beach five:two diet plan: Week 3 update

DIARY

D1: Eat. Small bowl of muesli, banana and skimmed milk; Lunch at 1pm: salad bowl with 100g blue cheese, a packet of crisps and a bread roll; 7pm pasta bake with extra raw veg; glass of white wine. Cals: 1,600

D2: Eat. Bowl of Shreddies with milk and a banana; for lunch an egg sandwich, followed by bowl of low fat natural yoghurt. At 7pm stir fry veg and an omelette. Glass of red wine and two squares of dark chocolate. Cals: 1,400

D3: Fast. Nothing until night time when I had a smoked salmon salad followed by a small helping of low fat natural yoghurt and a helping of blueberries. Cals: 500

D4: Eat. One bread roll and a banana. At 1pm, tomatoes on toast plus yogurt and granola. A small packet of M&Ms. A salad with pan fried salmon and a beer, followed by 2 squares dark chocolate. Cals: 2,000

D5: Eat. One croissant for breakfast. A toasted tuna sandwich at 1pm, and a portion of frozen yoghurt. At 7pm, tortilla and salad followed by Crème caramel and a glass of rosé. Cals: 2,000

D6: Eat. One bread roll and a small cake. At 1pm, a tuna sandwich and an ice cream. At 7pm, tuna and egg salad plus a handful of chips. A glass of rosé. Cals: 1,900

D7: Fast. Nothing but water and black coffee until 7pm, and a salad with egg and tuna, with a small slice of my daughter’s tomato pizza. Cals: 500

RESULT: Loss 1lb.

VERDICT:

I feel SO much more portion aware these days but still falling into bad habits when away from home. So Day Five, which included waking up at Gatwick and flying to Spain for a week’s holiday, was a challenge. I am noticing that if I eat lots of carbs I feel uncomfortably bloated, which helps me make better choices in future. Spanish food seems very carb-oriented – and there is simply no choice at my hotel breakfast – it is bread and cake. Still you don’t have to eat the cake do you? And I’ll have to stick to salads for other meals.

But holidays are for relaxing, too – surely you can allow a glass of rosé into the daily diet if you eat less of everything else? Plus the endless walking and lugging of heavy suitcases must use up lots of calories, not to mention how many you burn jumping waves in the Mediterranean. Hopefully, next week will see a better loss.

NEXT WEEK’S CHALLENGE: The Fast Beach Diet on holiday…

The Fast Beach Diet by Mimi Spencer (Short Books, RRP £6.99) is available to order from Telegraph Books at £3.99 + £1.10 p&p. Call 0844 871 1514 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk

Dr Michael Mosley"s Quick Beach five:two diet plan: Week 3 update