A Hobson's choice is a free choice in which only one option is offered. As a person may refuse to take that option, the choice is therefore between taking the option or not; "take it or leave it".
There is no fear but the fear of hunger. Mosquito nets are
widely considered a magic bullet against malaria — one of the cheapest and most
effective ways to stop a disease that kills at least half a million Africans
each year. An insecticide-treated mosquito net, hung over a bed, is the front
line in the battle against malaria. It’s also the perfect mosquito-killing
machine. The gauzy mesh allows the carbon dioxide that people exhale to flow
out, which attracts mosquitoes. But as they swarm in, their cuticles touch the
insecticide on the net’s surface, poisoning their nervous systems and shutting
down their microscopic hearts. But many are not using their mosquito nets as
global health experts have intended. Across Africa, from the mud flats of
Nigeria to the coral reefs off Mozambique, mosquito-net fishing is a growing
problem, an unintended consequence of one of the biggest and most celebrated
public health campaigns in recent years.
Isabel Marques da Silva, a marine biologist at Universidade
Lúrio in Mozambique explained “That’s
why the incidence for malaria here is so high. The people don’t use the
mosquito nets for mosquitoes. They use them to fish.”
“I know it’s not right,” Mr. Ndefi said, “but without these
nets, we wouldn’t eat.”
“It’s simple economics,” said Carl Huchzermeyer, a fisheries
manager for African Parks, a conservation organization in Bangweulu. “You could
spend two days making a basket out of reeds, or just use a mosquito net.”
Scientists now worry about the collateral damage: Africa’s
fish. But the unsparing mesh, with holes smaller than mosquitoes, traps much
more life than traditional fishing nets do. The Malagasy word for these nets is
“ramikaoko,” or the thing that takes all things together. A “real” net costs
about $50, an enormous expense in a place where many people survive on a few
dollars a day. Scientists say that could imperil already stressed fish
populations, a critical food source for millions of the world’s poorest people.
Many of these insecticide-treated nets are dragged through the same lakes and
rivers people drink from, raising concerns about toxins. One of the most common
insecticides used by the mosquito net industry is permethrin, which the United
States Environmental Protection Agency says is “likely to be carcinogenic to
humans” when consumed orally. The E.P.A. also says permethrin is “highly toxic”
to fish. Most scientists say the risks to people are minimal, because the
dosages are relatively low and humans metabolize permethrin quickly. But with
coldblooded animals, it’s a different story. In many places, fish are dried for
hours in direct sunlight on treated mosquito nets. Direct sunlight can break
down the insecticide coating. Anthony Hay, an associate professor of
environmental toxicology at Cornell University, said fish could absorb some of
the toxins, leaving people to ingest them when they eat the fish. “We think we
have a solution to everybody’s problems, and here’s an example of where we’re
creating a new problem.”
“If you’re using freshly treated nets in a smallish stream
or a bay in the lake, it’s quite likely you’re going to kill fish you don’t
intend to kill,” said Dan Strickman, a senior program officer for the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, which has invested heavily in malaria research and
development. “That’s definitely an environmental hazard.
Recent hydroacoustic surveys show that Zambia’s fish
populations are dwindling. Harris Phiri, a Zambian fisheries official, blamed
deforestation, rapid population growth and the widespread use of mosquito nets.
“They are catching very small fish that haven’t matured,”
Mr. Phiri said. “The stocks won’t be able to grow.”
People fishing with mosquito nets tend to be those without
boats or even tackle, often women and children, the most dispossessed. They
work from shore, tugging the nets through shallow waters, precisely where many
species spawn, creating another potential problem: the slow, steady destruction
of sensitive aquatic breeding grounds.
Jeppe Kolding, a Danish fisheries ecologist, has challenged
the conventional wisdom. He advocates a “balanced harvest” approach that calls
for catching more juvenile fish and sparing some of the adults, arguing that
mosquito-net fishing may not harm fish stocks as much as widely believed. “Fish are more like plants than other
animals,” he said, “in that they disperse millions of seeds.” But even he
acknowledges that, for fishing purposes, it would be much better if the nets
used were not treated with toxic chemicals.
Madagascar’s industrial shrimp catch plummeted to 3,143 tons
in 2010 from 8,652 tons in 2002. Madagascar recently banned the use of mosquito
nets at Antongil Bay, a crucial shrimping area.
Big companies like BASF, Bayer and Sumitomo Chemical design
the nets. They are manufactured at about $3 apiece, many in China and Vietnam,
shipped in steel containers to Africa, trucked to villages by aid agencies, and
handed out by local ministries of health, usually gratis. The World Health
Organization says the nets are a primary reason malaria death rates in Africa
have been cut in half since 2000. But at the end of the line, in poor areas
where little goes to waste, mosquito nets become many other things: soccer
balls and chicken coops, bridal veils and funeral shrouds. Mosquito nets are
literally part of the fabric of a community.
People know all too well the dangers of malaria yet also know
loved ones will not last long without food.
