Saving Our Birds
Many people don't understand how much we need certain birds like swallows and swifts for an example. In the spring 0f 2016 we had a major health scare from the Zika virus.
Birds play an important role because they eat billions of mosquitoes and other insects. The swallow population is in serious decline. Judy has saved many birds from herbicide exposure. We are witnessing birds with respiratory problems, underdeveloped primary feathers, and disrupted bone and bill growth. Studies show that neonicotinoids and chlorpyrifos (both insecticides) interfere with bird orientation and feeding. Wild songbirds, for an example, who consume the equivalent of just four imidacloprid-treated canola seeds or eight chlorpyrifos granules per day over 3 days could suffer impaired condition, migration delays and improper migratory direction, which could lead to in creased risk of mortality or lost breeding opportunity. Chloropyrifos was supposed to be banned by the Environmental Protection Agency because of the severe damage it does to children, however this didn't happen. Read here for more details on why this didn't happen.
"Chemicals to which young ones are exposed during development disrupt normal function of mitochondria in cells. In humans, this is called mitochondrial disease, and animals in which the mitochondria are adversely affected typically also have metabolic acidosis. Mitochondria are the power packs in animal cells. They make the heat and energy necessary to keep the animal alive, growing, and able to function in a normal manner. If insufficient energy is produced by mitochondria, it often causes mortality in the animal, especially if it is a newborn.
Toxins such as those in pesticides also directly cause metabolic acidosis by disrupting an animal's cellular communication. Metabolic acidosis means bodily fluids are less basic or, to put it another way, slightly more acidic than is favorable to good health. This condition severely affects the ability of cells to take up nutrients, vitamins, and especially minerals, which they require to function optimally and do all the things they do every nanosecond of the animal's life.
Developmental malformations such as those described in this book are often the result of nutritional deficiencies resulting from mitochondrial disease and metabolic acidosis." Hoy states in Changing Faces.
In Hoy's book you'll read several recovery stories that may seem stranger than fiction but the effects cell salts have in living cells can actually be easily explained by simple science.
The EPA banned two extremely harmful pesticides in 1985. The cancer causing herbicide 2,4,5-T and the insecticide Endrin, which caused brain damage, birth defects, and cancer. Hoy received many birds in the early 80s that had horrible malformations. Endrin is very similar to DDT, which was banned in 72' after causing the extinction of several bird species. The most popular bird that was almost destroyed by DDT was our national bird, the Bald Eagle. Endrin caused multiple effects on all waterfowl, cranes, eagles, gamebirds, and others. High levels of Endrin being found in birds that were hunted affected license sales and businesses.
It has been directly observed that exposure to 2,4-D combined with picloram or other herbicides can cause birds to have a disruption of feather growth and underdeveloped upper bill.
