On March 22, representatives of European Agriculture Ministers will meet at the European Commission's Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (ScoPAFF) to deliberate Thiacloprid's relicensing. Three other neonicotinoid insecticides (imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam) were recently banned for outdoor use in all EU member states. They were banned from sale from 19 September 2018 and from use by 19 December 2018.
Evidence that neonicotinoids are a strong contributor to insect declines should not come as a surprise. Their use has exploded in the last two decades. As early as 2008, the USEPA in one of its reviews of thiamethoxam went as far as to predict “structural and functional changes of both the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems” following registration of the insecticide. Such a broad statement of concern is rarely encountered in a formal regulatory assessment. It is unfortunate indeed that this EPA scientist’s views fell on deaf ears.
In a corner of Hertfordshire, in one of the oldest agricultural research institutes in the world – the Rothamsted Research Institute, founded in 1843 – entomologist Chris Shortall spends his days counting and categorising mounds of moths, aphids and beetles. In fact, that is exactly what he has been doing ever since he joined the Rothamsted Insect Survey (RIS) in 2003 – a branch of the Rothamsted Institute that has been dedicated to the tracking and study of all types of bugs in the UK since 1964.
Naar aanleiding van de kelderende insectenaantallen besloten twee Australische biologen, Francisco Sánches-Bayo en Kris Wyckhuys, om de mondiale achteruitgang in kaart te brengen. Daarvoor analyseerden ze 73 artikelen over insectenbiodiversiteit uit de afgelopen 40 jaar. In het tijdschrift Biological Conservation schrijven ze over een „wereldwijde afname”. Ze noteren in de samenvatting „dramatische afnamesnelheden” die in een paar decennia zouden kunnen leiden tot „het uitsterven van 40 procent van de insectensoorten wereldwijd”.
De globale insectenpopulatie is op weg richting een totale uitroeiing als de trend van de afgelopen dertig jaar zich voortzet. Binnen enkele decennia dreigt er geen enkel insect meer te zijn op onze planeet. De gevolgen zullen catastrofaal zijn voor de “natuurlijke ecosystemen”, maar ook voor “de overlevingskansen van de mensheid”. Dat stellen twee wetenschappers, onder wie een Belg, in de eerste wereldwijde studie over het onderwerp.
An Ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled to UV detection method was developed to determine acetamiprid residues in water reservoirs of northern Benin, close to cotton fields. The quantification limit of this method was 0.2 µg L−1 acetamiprid in water, its precision ranged between 8% and 22%, and its trueness between 99% and 117% (for concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 5.0 µg L−1). Acetamiprid residues were determined in water samples collected in four reservoirs from northern Benin during the phytosanitary treatment period of cotton.
The nature of receptor binding by imidacloprid is of fundamental importance for risk assessment. If, as Bayer and Syngenta-sponsored scientists now infer, receptor binding is reversible, the toxicity of imidacloprid would be concentration-dependent only, and there would likely be a threshold
Der Bestand an Brutvögeln im landwirtschaftlichen Raum ist in Europa während der vergangenen Jahrzehnte um mehr als die Hälfte zurückgegangen. Der Hauptgrund ist die intensive Landwirtschaft. Seit 1980 ist der Bestand an Vögeln des Kulturlands in der EU um rund 56 Prozent eingebrochen. Zu den betroffenen Arten gehören beispielsweise Feldlerche, Star (Sturnus vulgaris) oder Kiebitz (Vanellus vanellus). Das geht aus den gesammelten Daten des European Bird Census Council hervor, einem Zusammenschluss europäischer Vogelexperten mit Sitz im niederländischen Nijmegen.
Die Hälfte der grössten Schweizer Seen erfüllt die Gewässerschutzverordnung punkto Sauerstoffkonzentration nicht. Grund sind Pestizide und Düngemittel aus der Landwirtschaft. Gewässerkorrekturen und zunehmend steigende Wassertemperaturen. Die aktuelle Situation gefährdet die Existenz mancher Berufsfischer, wie der Geschäftsführer des Schweizerischen Fischereiverbands erklärt. Wenn es weniger Fische in den Gewässern gibt, fangen auch die Berufsfischer weniger, was sich negativ auf ihr Einkommen auswirkt.
Pesticide use is driving an “alarming” decline in the world’s insects that could have a “catastrophic” impact on nature’s ecosystems, researchers have warned. More than 40 per cent of insect species are at risk of extinction with decades, with climate change and pollution also to blame, according to a global scientific review. Their numbers are plummeting so precipitously that almost all insects could vanish within a century, the study found.