Beleid en debat

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/

Forscher haben Gewässer an deutschen Äckern auf Insektizide geprüft - und melden erschreckende Befunde. Die Giftbelastung liegt teilweise um ein Vielfaches über den vorausberechneten Werten. Dabei wurde das Zulassungsverfahren erst vor drei Jahren eingeführt. Das Forscherteam um den Umweltwissenschaftler Ralf Schulz verglich in 122 Fällen die Insektizidmenge, die in Gewässern um die Äcker herum tatsächlich gemessen wurde, mit den Werten, die im Zulassungsverfahren vorhergesagt worden waren. "Das Ergebnis ist besorgniserregend", sagt Schulz zu SPIEGEL ONLINE. "In bis zu vier von zehn Fällen ist die tatsächliche Belastung der Gewässer höher als vorausberechnet. Bei neuen Insektiziden liegt diese Quote sogar darüber." Höhere Konzentrationen als vorhergesagt haben die Landauer Forscher etwa bei den Insektiziden Chlorpyrifos, Cypermethrin und Fenvalerate gefunden. "Die Industrie muss ihrer Verantwortung für einen vorsorgenden Umweltschutz gerecht werden", fordert Schulz. "In jedem Fall brauchen wir auch in Deutschland mehr unabhängig gewonnene Daten zur Belastung von Gewässern mit Pflanzenschutzmitteln."

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.

Drinkwaterbedrijf Vitens maakt zich zorgen over de kwetsbaarheid van waterwingebieden in Overijssel. In Overijssel laten de bodemlagen sneller vervuiling door. Negen waterwingebieden in Overijssel zijn daardoor bijzonder kwetsbaar voor verontreinigingen. Het gaat om de wingebieden Vechterweerd (gemeente Dalfsen), Espelose Broek (Deventer/Holten), Herikerberg/Goor (Hof van Twente), Archemerberg (Ommen), Mander (Tubbergen), Hoge Hexel (Twenterand), Wierden/Hoge Hexel (Wierden) en het Engelse Werk (Zwolle). Ongeveer een miljoen inwoners van Overijssel zijn afhankelijk van deze waterwingebieden.