Beleid en debat

Kanadische Wissenschaftler schlagen Alarm: In den letzten 20 Jahren haben die Bestände von häufigen Insekten fressenden Vogelarten in Kanada um bis zu 70% abgenommen. Die kanadischen Forscher haben insbesondere Rückgänge bei der auch in Europa vorkommenden Uferschwalbe Riparia riparia und dem Schornsteinsegler Chaetura pelagica, einem engen Verwandten unseres Mauerseglers Apus apus, festgestellt.

The Dutch toxicologist Henk Tennekes was invited to give a presentation on the risk profile of neonicotinoid insecticides for arthropods to committee members of the Dutch Board for the Authorisation of Plant Protection Products and Biocides (Ctgb). An English version of the presentation, which took place on 25 May 2011 at the Bee House in Wageningen, The Netherlands, is attached. Attached also is an article on the influence of Bayer Cropscience on Dutch policy makers (which appeared in the magazine "Vrij Nederland" on April 4, 2012).

During the past 120 years, a large number of natural enemies has been collected and evaluated for use in augmentative biological control programmes. Particularly during the last 30 years many efficient species have been identified and currently at least 230 species are commercially available globally. Today, the commercial biological control industry is well organized, has developed mass production, shipment and release methods as well as adequate guidance for farmers. The industry has intensively collaborated with the public research sector in design of quality control programmes, which are applied during natural enemy production and shipment. The industry also cooperated in preparing environmental risk assessment methods for biological control agents. In several areas of agriculture augmentative biological control has obtained considerable successes and is now a reliable and appreciated element of IPM programmes. Despite all this progress, augmentative biological control is applied on a frustratingly small acreage.

THE bird population of what is regarded as one of Wales’ wildlife havens has decreased dramatically, according to alarming new figures. A report by the Pembrokeshire Biodiversity Partnership shows starlings Sturnus vulgaris have decreased by 70%, yellowhammers Emberiza citrinella by 50% and skylarks Alauda arvensis by 33%. RSPB Cymru said starling numbers have decreased by 58% since 1994, and yellowhammers by 40%. Another two species giving “cause for concern” are corn buntings Miliaria calandra and turtledoves Streptopelia turtur, both of which no longer breed every year in Wales. Turtle doves and corn buntings are virtually non-existent now in Devon and Cornwall, figures published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have shown. Grahame Madge of the RSPB said: "It's a real desperate shame. We are working with farmers in the Westcountry to try and hang on to as many farmland species as possible. "The linnet Carduelis cannabina has declined by 32 per cent since 1995, and other declines in the region have included the yellowhammer, down 13 per cent, and a 24 per cent decrease in skylark numbers. "But possibly the most staggering decline, aside from the corn bunting and turtle dove, which are basically extinct in the Westcountry, is that of the cuckoo Cuculus canorus, down 73 per cent. "Most of the reductions occurred between the late-1970s and early 1990s, but numbers fell by more than 9 per cent in the five years to 2009, the statistics revealed.

Na het meten op 630 punten, treffen de waterschappen van Noordoost-Nederland 60 procent van de gebruikte gewasbeschermingsmiddelen in het water aan. Daarvan overschrijdt 40 procent van de middelen de norm.

Onder de meest aangetroffen stoffen horen onder meer Metribuzin, Metolachoor, Imidacloprid, Dimethoaat en Azoxystrobin. „De stoffen zijn vooral schadelijk voor het waterleven", zegt Michiel Oudendijk van Waterschap Zuiderzeeland. „Daarnaast maakt de vervuiling het zuiveren van het water voor drinkwater een kostbare zaak."

Een onderzoek naar het effect van langjarige consumptie van minieme doses imidacloprid op het IQ van de mens is ’wenselijk’. Vijf wetenschappers ondersteunen de oproep van toxicoloog dr. ir. Henk Tennekes. Het gaat om dr. Gert van der Laan (AMC - klinische arbeidskunde in relatie met neuropsychologie), Henk .J. Vlug (insectendeskundige), dr. Paul Harrewijn (wis- en natuurkundige, medicus en ex-onderzoeker Wageningen) en prof.dr. Jeroen van der Sluis (senior-onderzoeker nieuwe risico’s UU en professor in Versailles). Prof.dr. Lucas Reijnders (emeritus milieukunde) wil ook onderzoek, maar dan rechtstreeks met proefdieren.

The current study was conducted to evaluate the effects of imidacloprid on soil microbial diversity. The results clearly showed that imidacloprid has significant negative impact on soil bacterial diversity in highly polluted farms and soil microbial balance has been gradually upset by application of more pesticide.

In 1999, French policymakers decided to limit the use of Gaucho (imidacloprid) in the face of uncertainty surrounding the risk to honeybee health. They drew on a preponderance of indirect evidence from observations in actual crop settings by French beekeepers and followup studies by researchers affiliated with the government. Since then, ecotoxicological laboratory studies of the influence of the newer systemic insecticides on honeybees have identified adverse effects: chronic feeding of neonicotinyl insecticides to honeybees at sublethal doses comparable to levels found in pollen and nectar of treated field crops had deleterious effects on learning, memory, behavior, and longevity. Lab studies also suggest that synergistic interactions between the newer systemic insecticides and other environmental toxins and pathogens could enhance the toxicity to honey bees. U.S. EPA officials recognize that these data on the ecological effects of the newer systemic toxins is a cause for some concern but maintain that it is too inconsistent to restrict the use of these toxins. Attached is an article on the influence of Bayer Cropscience on Dutch policy makers (which appeared in the magazine "Vrij Nederland" on April 4, 2012).

Infection by Nosema ceranae, a parasite that causes Nosema disease (1), results in higher mortality among honeybees when they are exposed to low doses of insecticides. This is a recent finding by researchers at the Microorganisms: Genome and Environment Laboratory (Laboratoire Microorganismes: Génome et Environnement (LMGE, CNRS/Université Blaise Pascal Clermont-Ferrand)) and the Environmental Toxicology Laboratory (Laboratoire de Toxicologie Environnementale (LTE, INRA Avignon)).