BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Barbados health authorities have dismissed media reports that the chemical being used as part of the efforts to rid the island of mosquitoes responsible for the Zika and chikungunya viruses had been banned in other countries.

The Ministry of Health said that Malathion had been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as contained in its Recommended Insecticides for Space Spraying against Mosquitoes, updated last February.

An article recently published in the Daily Nation newspaper, headlined “Smoke Scream”, suggested that Malathion and diesel were banned chemicals and should be replaced with water-based fogging or aquaculture, which would allow fish to consume the mosquito larvae.

“Malathion is the most cost effective and sustainable method of killing adult mosquitoes. It has not to date demonstrated mosquito resistance, similar to some of the newer agents that are being used elsewhere,” the Ministry of Health said, adding that diesel was used as a propellant at a concentration of five per cent, so that exposure was very low.

“The fogging schedule is published, not because of excess risk from the chemicals, but because some people have respiratory conditions and may be more sensitive to fogging than others,” the ministry explained.

It said it would continue to urge Barbadians to take vector control seriously and to prevent mosquito breeding on their premises by adopting source reduction practices. These include managing water storage containers and eliminating conditions that can lead to collections of water.

Barbados, like most Caribbean Community countries have reported cases of the Zika virus that is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.