Bat Die-Offs Increase Pesticide Use, Increasing Infant Mortality (IMAGE)

University of Chicago

Bat Die-Offs Increase Pesticide Use, Increasing Infant Mortality

Caption

The study compared the effect of bat die-offs from White-Nose Syndrome on pesticide use in counties that experienced bat population declines to counties that were likely unaffected. It found that when the bat populations declined, farmers increased their use of pesticides by about 31 percent. When farmers increased their use of pesticides, the infant mortality rate—a common marker to study the health impacts of environmental pollution—rose by almost 8 percent. This corresponds to an additional more than 1,000 infant deaths.

Credit

Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, epic.uchicago.edu

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