According to a new study, farmers in affected U.S. counties increased their use of insecticides by 31 percent when bat populations declined. In those places, infant mortality rose by an estimated 8 percent.
Dr. Messerlian, who studies how the environment affects fertility, pregnancy and child health, said a growing body of research is showing health effects from toxic chemicals in our environment, even if scientists can't put their fingers on the causal links.
I actually think it's groundbreaking. If we were to reduce the population-level exposure today, we would save lives, she said. It's as easy as that.
The connections are commonsense but the conclusion is shocking: Bats eat insects. When a fatal disease hit bats, farmers used more pesticides to protect crops.
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