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Why have beekeepers been let down by our alleged system of pesticide-testing? Is it just sheer incompetence, or is there a growing conflict of interests? It is impossible to judge. But the question cannot be avoided: how could these notoriously weak tests, for assessing the risk which pesticides pose for bees, how could the wrong tests be used for almost twenty years, to justify licensing the latest generation of insecticides? Licensed since the early 1990s, the systemic neonicotinoids (Gaucho, Regent etc) were the focus of intense controversy before they were banned, at least partially, from the market. The latest neonicotinoid-based pesticide, ‘Cruiser’ (thiamethoxam), has recently been banned for use on oilseed rape in France; a decision challenged by Syngenta, the manufacturer. But the complete failure of the entire testing regime is far more troubling, because the risk-assessment tests were only recently revised and approved in 2010. The questions about this have not come from Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth, but from the European Food Safety Authority itself (EFSA) which has probably never endorsed such an embarrassing document. Released in late May, its 275 pages of technical text passed almost totally unnoticed by most people.

The distinctive corn bunting Miliaria calandra, known to farmers as “the fat bird of the barley”, is under threat. The bird was once so widespread it was known as the common bunting and considered an agricultural pest because it ate so much grain. It is now an endangered species in the UK with only 800 pairs in Scotland, concentrated mainly in Aberdeenshire, Angus, Fife and the Uists. In its Scottish “heartland” numbers have fallen by more than 83 per cent over just two decades, since 1989. The study, by RSPB Scotland and the ecologist Dr Adam Watson, published today, covered 3,645 hectares of coastal farmland in eastern Scotland. Corn buntings disappeared from some sites during the study, and one Aberdeenshire population declined by 91 per cent from 134 pairs to just 12. Dr Watson, who monitored the corn bunting population in each year of the 20-year study, said: “When I first studied this population in 1989 it was thriving, and I saw winter flocks hundreds strong. Last summer we only found one pair, which failed to rear any chicks. To me in 2012, the familiar farmlands seem silent and empty. It is tragic.”

Recognizing that the rapidly growing global use of highly persistent systemic pesticides, that are unprecedentedly toxic to invertebrates (including all pollinating insects), poses a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) established in 2011 a Task Force on Systemic Pesticides (TFSP) under the IUCN Species Survival and Ecosystem Management Commissions. At present TFSP numbers 36 experts and scientists from 13 countries in addition to a number of correspondents in others. Tokyo Forum on 2 September 2012 is its attempt to strengthen the working relationship with the Japanese counterparts in the field and the Japanese civil society, additionally shedding light on the public health implications of the systemic pesticides. Lectures by dr. Jeroen van der Sluijs (Utrecht university) and Drs Kuroda (Japanese Environmental Neuroscience Information Center) are attached. A full list of conference papers: http://www.actbeyondtrust.org/en/iucn-tokyo-forum-120902/

This study was designed to examine the environmental exposure of surface- and groundwater pollution in remote mountainous regions of northern Vietnam. In 2008, we monitored the loss of four commonly applied pesticides (imidacloprid, fenitrothion, fenobucarb, dichlorvos) from paddy rice farming systems to a receiving stream on the watershed scale and quantified groundwater pollution. For the entire monitoring period, runoff loss of pesticides from the watershed was estimated to range between 0.4% (dichlorvos) and 16% (fenitrothion) of the total applied mass. These losses were correlated well with the octanol–water partition coefficient and water solubility of pesticides (r2¼0.78–0.99). In the groundwater collected from eight wells, all target pesticides were frequently detected. Maximum measured concentrations were 0.47, 0.22, 0.17, and 0.07 microgram per litre for fenitrothion, imidacloprid, fenobucarb, and dichlorvos, respectively. Our results strongly indicate that under the current management practice pesticide use in paddy fields poses a serious environmental problem in mountainous regions of northern Vietnam.

The aim of this investigation was to broaden our knowledge of possible leaching to water of pesticides used in field cultivation of horticultural crops and in greenhouses. The investigation, which was carried out in 2008, is the most comprehensive to date as regards the number of pesticides analysed in Swedish watercourses. The analyses comprised 126 different substances, 39 of which have not been investigated previously within Swedish environmental monitoring. The investigation consisted of surface water sampling in six areas with extensive growing of horticultural crops. Field growing of berries occurred in the catchment area in SE Småland, vegetables in NE Skåne and fruit in SE Skåne. Greenhouse cultivation took place in the catchment area in W Skåne and NW Skåne.

An investigation was carried out to study the effect of imidacloprid on bacterial (Brevundimonas sp. MJ15) populations in soil. In laboratory studies test concentrations were 125, 250, 500, and 1000 ppm. Field studies involved application of imidacloprid at recommended rates and at 1.5x rate. Results from both studies revealed that imidacloprid caused significant (P<0.05) and dose-dependent reduction in bacterial soil populations. However, in the field studies recovery was seen at 28 days post-application.

The cumulative ecological impacts on aquatic paddy communities and their recovery processes after two successive annual applications of two systemic insecticides, imidacloprid and fipronil, were monitored between mid-May and mid-September each year. The abundance of benthic organisms during both years was significantly lower in both insecticide-treated fields than in the controls. Large-impacts of fipronil on aquatic arthropods were found after the two years. Growth of medaka fish, both adults and their juveniles, was affected by the application of the two insecticides. Residues of fipronil in soil, which are more persistent than those of imidacloprid, had a high level of impact on aquatic communities over time. For some taxonomic groups, particularly for water surface-dwelling and water-borne arthropods, the second annual treatment had far greater impacts than the initial treatment. It is concluded that realistic prediction and assessment of pesticide effects at the community level should also include the long-term ecological risks of their residues whenever these persist in paddies over a year.

Some of the most well-loved flowers of the British countryside are disappearing from arable fields, conservationists warned today. Cornflowers, corn marigolds, pheasant's eye and, in some areas, poppies are becoming increasingly threatened species in the face of more intensive agriculture, plant charity Plantlife said. Cath Shellswell, of Plantlife, said many arable plant species are struggling, with corn buttercups and cornflowers now incredibly rare, while in Wales poppies are now considered rare in some areas. 'We're more efficient at cleaning seed to take out all the seeds you wouldn't want to plant. And we tend to use more herbicides, which are there to target problem species, lots of weeds we don't want to encourage, but it also affects these flowers as well.' Many of the arable wildflowers are important for wildlife, with hoverflies relying heavily on daisy species and plants such as poppies providing an important source of pollen for bees. Arable plants also provide seed food for birds such as skylark and yellowhammer and some, such as the poppy, are culturally important.

Europe's largest wading bird, the curlew Numenius arquata, is facing extinction in Wales. The RSPB now think there could be as few as 576 pairs left. In 2006 the RSPB thought there were about 1,100 pairs left in Wales. Conservation officer Dave Elliott who works with the animals in Hiraethog, Snowdonia, the only place in Wales where they now breed, said: “The rate of decline has been about 50-80% in the last 15 year period. There may not have been any chicks fledged this year. They certainly disappeared from the uplands quicker than I have ever seen".

South Africa's national bird, the blue crane (Anthropoides paradiseus), also known as the Stanley Crane and the Paradise Crane, remains endangered, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) said, as the annual KwaZulu-Natal aerial crane survey entered its 20th year. Blue Cranes are birds of the dry grassy uplands, usually the pastured grasses of hills, valleys, and plains with a few scattered trees. Most of their diet is comprised by grasses and sedges. They are also regularly insectivorous, feeding on numerous, sizable insects such as grasshoppers. Small animals such as crabs, snails frogs and small lizards and snakes may supplement the diet, with such protein-rich food often being broken down and fed to the young.