IS THERE REALLY A LINK BETWEEN DISEASED BATS AND THE DEATHS OF HUMAN BABIES?
A frightening wildlife disease is killing millions of bats in the USA and people are the collateral damage. Eyal Frank, an environmental economist who conducted a detailed study “discovered that in regions with outbreaks of white nose syndrome, a wildlife disease that kills bats, the rate of infant mortality increased by nearly 8 percent relative to areas without the disease.” The reason? “Most North American bats eat insects, including pests like moths that damage crops. Without bats flying about, farmers spray more insecticides on their fields, the study shows, and exposure to insecticides is known to harm the health of newborns.” “The damages from their absences appear to be substantial.”
“When the link between human and environmental health is overlooked, industries enabled by short-sighted policies can destroy wildlife habitats without a full understanding of what we lose in the process. “This is precisely why studies like this are so critical: They reveal, in terms most people can relate to, how the ongoing destruction of biodiversity affects us all.”
Source:
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/370002/bats-link-babies-death-study-white-nose-syndrome
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