FIGHTING FOR TOMORROW

FIGHTING FOR TOMORROW

Last week I had a terrible night because of mosquitoes. Yes! Those little critters can make an entire night a living hell. The mosquitoes in my house are really different, they will make you believe all the alien stories you may have ever come across. These deadly insects in my house literarily fly around wearing a boot, their proboscis are as large as arrows and you can literally see the straws they come with to suck blood. Their male counterparts have deep croaking baritone voices with which they make discordant sounds that will make you scream from your dream as though you have heard your name mentioned ( I think those beings used to know my name!).

Used to… because I killed them all.

After the terrible night, I was sure that the usual insecticides prescribed for such insects would just be a body spray for them. I gave up on all those insecticides some years back when I saw a cockroach in my bathroom and ran into the “other room” with a sprint that will make Usain Bolt green with envy. Alas! When I returned and began to spray the insecticide on the roach, it had the temerity to raise its wings and wiggled its tiny legs as if it was saying “hey, dude, spray me that cologne so I can attract others for mating” I was livid with anger and the way I killed it is akin to killing a fly with a sledge hammer. After that incidence, I bade farewell to the recommended insecticides.

Till I was faced with a war like situation last week... It can only be described as a war because those wicked monsters made it their duty to deprive me of my precious sleep. I went out of the house battle ready for a fight. I started thinking and strategizing on the best way to win the war that night. I thought for a really long time till the right idea struck me. Eureka! I found the appropriate bomb to completely eradicate the tiny monsters.

I bought a very powerful insecticide….. I bought Sniper.

That night I closed up all the windows and sprayed the insecticide on the house, then I washed my hands, closed the door and left the house… to wait for the bomb to completely eliminate the monsters before I returned.

Indeed, I had a very good sleep that night. To make up for the loss I suffered the previous night.

But over a week after that incident, I woke up to see dead insects like I have always seen from the day I fumigated the room.

It got me worried that even though the room is well aerated, the insects still keep dropping dead. I was worried because I kept wondering other things that might be dying daily which my eyes cannot see.

And my worry was in order.

We wonder why there is a rising prevalence of couples with reproductive problems, or the increase in the rate of various cancers among our population as well as other diseases which are alien to us such as lymphoma, leukemia, Parkinson’s disease, neurological disorders, nervous system disease and even asthma.

Because of the failure of the vapourised insecticides, many people living in Nigeria have resorted to the more potent insecticides which are usually used for farmlands as alternative and true to type, it works well for them. Immediately after spraying, all the mosquitoes are killed and there is usually relative peace.

However, let’s ponder on the safety of this practice for a while with respect to our health. The chemicals were designed to be used on farmlands and not for indoor spraying. There are different recommended fumigants for indoor residual spraying.

Truth be told, such chemicals like Sniper and the rest are highly dangerous for our health. They can easily be absorbed through the skin or lungs and they can persist for a very long time. By design, they don’t easily disintegrate hence they have the ability to persist for extremely long periods. Now, because they can easily be absorbed through the skin, they have the ability to seep through and kill those precious life- giving cells men possess – you guessed right! The sperm cells. As these cells are being destroyed, it can result in oligospermia (which is low sperm count) and this can result in reproductive issues. I don’t even want to tell you that it can also destroy the ovaries (Have I told you already?). Beyond that, the chemicals have the ability to cause point mutations in our DNA, these can result to large changes that ultimately manifests as any of the various cancers you may know. They can cause any of the disease conditions mentioned above.

The danger of this poison which we literarily expose ourselves to cannot be overemphasized.

But the danger of mosquitoes still abounds. What we can do to prevent ourselves (and protect our dear sleep) is to start with screens. Ensuring that there are nets on all our doors and windows will go a long way to keep the mosquitoes outside. As for those that will still enter the room, there is a good remedy for them… sleeping inside insecticide treated bednets has been a good preventive measure. Eliminating their breeding sites is yet another good measure. This is achieved by ensuring that our environment is constantly clean, devoid of grasses and that there aren’t pockets of water which can serve as breeding sites for mosquitoes.

Malaria have killed millions of people, it is still killing people… But it would not be wise that in our bid to prevent malaria, we expose ourselves to other deadly diseases. While we prevent malaria, we should also prevent other diseases.

Prevention is still better than cure. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. I believe you have been forearmed against the impending war on our collective health. Let us not sell our tomorrow to buy today.

Thank you.