Insecticiden

The long, contentious debate over using a controversial pesticide to control pests threatening Willapa Bay’s multimillion dollar oyster industry may be resolved this year.The state Department of Ecology Tuesday released a draft environmental impact study of using imidacloprid to control the burrowing shrimp that undermine and smother oyster beds. Supporters and opponents likely will both find ammunition in the report, which draws a mix of conclusions. It says that using imidacloprid would:

While previous research in the UK has suggested that bees do not feed on oilseed rape, a new study shows it is the most important nectar source to honeybees while it is in flower. This must now be considered in future discussions on neonicotinoid pesticides, which are widely used on oilseed rape. Matthew Pound and student collaborators from Northumbria University in the UK analysed pollen from samples of honey, which they took from different times of the year to assess the bees’ changing preferences.

Es ging am Donnerstag (21.9.2017) in Daverden um das Insektensterben und die Forderung nach einer Wende in der Landwirtschaft. Der Kreisimkerverein Verden/Aller hatte den niederländischen Toxikologen Dr. Henk Tennekes mit seinem Vortrag „Die Krise in der Risikobewertung von Pestiziden am Beispiel der Neonicotinoiden“ ins Waldschlößchen eingeladen. Im Anschluss fand eine Podiumsdiskussion in dem vollbesetzten Saal statt, in der auch Landvolk-Vorsitzender Jörn Ehlers Stellung bezog. Seitens der Zuschauer gab es weniger Fragen, sondern Beiträge.

If you look just at the numbers, you might think autism rates are spiraling out of control. The rates seemed high enough at 1 in 150 in 2000, when public health officials started tracking a steady rise in the syndrome in the United States. And by the time estimates finally flatlined in 2012 at 1 in 68, many parents had embraced unfounded theories blaming vaccines for an autism “epidemic,” helping to fuel outbreaks of measles and other once rare diseases.

— Pestizide aus der Klasse der Neonikotinoide stellen weltweit ernsthafte Bedrohungen für Ökosysteme dar. Dies zeigen neue Informationen, die in einem Update zur weltweit umfassendsten wissenschaftlichen Überprüfung der ökologischen Auswirkungen von systemischen Pestiziden enthalten sind.

It was only in 2015 that the US Geological Survey first studied whether neonicotinoid residue shows up in streams (it does), and new research from the University of Iowa is the first to find it in drinking water. This new study tested water from drinking taps throughout Iowa City for neonicotinoid presence. Iowa City is on the smaller side, with an estimated population of fewer than 75,000, but its presence in a largely agricultural state makes it well-placed to see how nearby pesticide use can affect an urban area.

Sharp-tailed grouse and prairie chicken hunters can again this year voluntarily submit samples for study by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Ongoing DNR research is assessing prairie grouse exposure to chemicals called neonicotinoids. These are pesticides that, once applied, can move throughout a plant. Neonicotinoids are commonly applied to seeds before planting.

“We’re into our third year of this study assessing whether prairie grouse have been exposed to neonicotinoids by eating treated seeds or other ways,” said Charlotte Roy, DNR grouse project leader.

Neonicotinoid pesticides pose severe threats to ecosystems worldwide, according to new information contained in an update to the world’s most comprehensive scientific review of the ecological impacts of systemic pesticides. The Task Force on Systemic Pesticides (TFSP) released the second edition of its Worldwide Integrated Assessment of the Effects of Systemic Pesticides on Biodiversity and Ecosystems today in Ottawa, Canada. It synthesizes more than 500 studies since 2014, including some industry-sponsored studies.