Beleid en debat

Neonicotinoide lassen Fischbestand schrumpfen

Daran, dass unsere Insekten und damit auch unsere Vögel weniger werden, sollen hauptsächlich Pflanzenschutzmittel schuld sein. Jetzt haben Forscher aus Tokio bestätigt, dass sich Neonicotinoide auch im Wasser und damit auf Fische auswirken. Ein Team um Masumi Yamamuro von der Universität Tokio hat den japanischen Shinji-See über Jahrzehnte beobachtet. Der siebtgrößte See Japans liegt in der Präfektur Shimane, an seinen Ufern befinden sich Reisfelder.

Engineered symbionts to safeguard honeybee health and their pollination services: A response

Leonard et al. (1) presented an interesting approach to limit the impact of pathogens on honeybees by stimulating immunity via engineered symbionts. The urgency to safeguard pollinator services is undoubted. Massive declines in bees, insects in general, pose major concerns for ecosystem stability and food production. However, we see potential pitfalls in such technology driven approaches. Leonard et al. attribute high honeybee colony mortality to the parasitic mite Varroa destructor via synergistic interactions with RNA viruses. However, Varroa is only a significant concern for honeybees.

Bayer verdedigt de neonicotinoïden in een interview met het tijdschrift NATUR

Bayer verkoopt al zo'n drie decennia zogenaamde neonicotinoïden, een groep insecticiden die het bedrijf ooit heeft uitgevonden. Ze worden ervan verdacht een roemloze rol te spelen in het wereldwijde verlies van bijen en insecten. De EU heeft nu drie van de vijf goedgekeurde neonicotinoïden in Europa verboden en wetenschappers over de hele wereld waarschuwen voor een "ecologisch armageddon". In het coververhaal van tijdschrift NATUR 3/20 ("Toxic Seed") wordt de chemische reus van verschillende kanten beschuldigd kritische wetenschappers en imkers te hebben geïntimideerd.

Time‐Cumulative Toxicity of Neonicotinoids: Experimental Evidence and Implications for Environmental Risk Assessments

Our mechanistic understanding of the toxicity of chemicals that target biochemical and/or physiological pathways, such as pesticides and medical drugs is that they do so by binding to specific molecules. The nature of the latter molecules (e.g., enzymes, receptors, DNA, proteins, etc.) and the strength of the binding to such chemicals elicit a toxic effect in organisms, which magnitude depends on the doses exposed in a given timeframe.

Fates of humans and insects intertwined, warn scientists

The “fates of humans and insects are intertwined”, scientists have said, with the huge declines reported in some places only the “tip of the iceberg”. The warning has been issued by 25 experts from around the world, who acknowledge that little is known about most of the estimated 5.5 million insect species. However, enough was understood to warrant immediate action, they said, because waiting for better data would risk irreversible damage.

Nederland blijft in biologische landbouw flink achter op andere Europese landen

Op donderdag 13 februari is op de BIOFACH, de internationale vakbeurs voor b­iologische voeding, bekend gemaakt dat de biologische landbouw wereldwijd met 2,0 miljoen hectare is gegroeid. 2018 was daarmee opnieuw een recordjaar voor de biologische sector. Ook de biologische detailhandel bereikte een record, de wereldwijde markt passeerde de grens van 100 miljard dollar (USD), zo blijkt uit de studie "The World of Organic Agriculture" over 2018 van de FiBL en IFOAM, met gegevens uit 186 landen.

Time-Dependent Toxicity Related to Short-Term Peaks of Contaminant Release

Short-term peaks of contaminant concentrations and flows go undetected at many minesites. Recent biological studies have shown that short peaks can contribute significantly to toxicity due to aspects like damage per unit of time, accumulating damage through time, damage at any concentration, temporally aligned or offset synergistic and antagonistic interactions, and slowly reversible or non-reversible uptake and binding of some metals and other elements.

Neonics Are ‘Hollowing Out Ecosystems,’ N.R.D.C. Reports

Neonicotinoid insecticides, also known as neonics, are doing more than killing bees and other insects in record numbers, according to a report issued last month by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an international environmental advocacy group. Neonics, the council says, are contaminating New York State’s soil and water and “hollowing out ecosystems from the bottom up.”

Bumblebees are dying across North America and Europe

Bumblebee populations in North America and Europe have plummeted, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. The number of areas populated by bumblebees has fallen 46 percent in North America and 17 percent in Europe. The loss of bumblebee populations is alarming because they play a central role in pollinating many plants, including key crops such as tomatoes and cranberries.