Editorials

EDITORIAL: Kemri must clear the air on treating mosquito nets

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A mother and her child on a bed covered with a mosquito net. file photo

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) has disowned a warning by one of its top researchers who said that the use of synthetic insecticides in treating mosquito nets is unsafe to children.

But instead of reassuring the public, this emerging controversy may complicate both positions until a more independent voice emerges from outside Kemri.

That the use of man-made insecticides may be unsafe will come as a disturbing news to the masses when the government has, for many years, been promoting the use of treated mosquito nets in the fight against killer malaria.

The researcher’s warning that the use of pyrethroids, one of the synthetic insecticides, causes asthma and cancer should be a wake-up call for the government, the agencies like Kemri, the World Health Organisation (WHO) — the body Kemri says has approved the use of pyrethroid quantities in treating nets — and the universities (local and foreign) to take health issues more seriously so as not to harm the rank and file.

It is also interesting to note that while Kenya has neglected the growing of pyrethrum, which produces the recommended pyrethrins as natural extracts, the Kemri says there is a shortage of such raw materials. This is the time for researchers to work with policy makers whose directions should guide economic activities.

This finding on the safety of the synthetics should egg on people already working on projects to revive the ailing pyrethrum sector.

It is also a warning to the government to do its homework well before recommending and approving a particular technology or product. The government will need to be clear on who pays for damages done should it be found that such mosquito nets are actually unsafe.

While it is true that nothing man-made is 100 per cent safe, the government must take the subject of health as seriously as possible because a sick nation is a subject of stagnation

However, now that there is divided opinion at Kemri, we call upon the premier agency to get to the bottom of this scare and reassure the public.