Beleid en debat

UK House of Commons Early Day Motion to Ban Neonicotinoids

Text of the Early Day Motion EDM 1267 lodged by Caton, Martin
IMPACT OF NEONICOTINOID PESTICIDES ON BEES AND OTHER INVERTEBRATES
13.01.2011

That this House is gravely concerned by the contents of a recently leaked memo from the US Environment Protection Agency whose scientists warn that bees and other non-target invertebrates are at risk from a new neonicotinoid pesticide and that tests in the US approval process are insufficient to detect the environmental damage caused; acknowledges that these findings reflect the conclusions of a 2009 `Buglife' report that identified similar inadequacies in the European approval regime with regard to neonicotinoids; notes reports that bee populations have soared in four European countries that have banned these chemicals; and therefore calls on the Government to act urgently to suspend all existing approvals for products containing neonicotinoids and fipronil pending more exhaustive tests and the development of international methodologies for properly assessing the long-term effects of systemic pesticides on invertebrate populations.

Largest National Insect Study Reveals Major Changes to UK Wildlife

The newly-published Provisional Atlas of the UK’s Larger Moths contains up-to-date maps showing the distributions of 868 moth species, many of which have never been published before. Initial findings from the huge data set include a pattern of considerable decline among some common moth species. These species include the Lappet moth, an amazing species that looks like a leaf and has a ‘snout’ that resembles a leaf stalk. This creature used to be common across central and southern England but has retreated to a few strongholds. Another once-widespread moth, the Stout Dart, now appears to be on the brink of extinction. Scarcer moths have also suffered serious declines, including the Wood Tiger, Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-moth, GoldSwift, Dew Moth, Light Feathered Rustic and Silvery Arches. Moths make up a substantial portion of the UK’s biodiversity and their caterpillars are a vital part of the food chain for many birds and other wildlife.

Silent skies

Why is it that birds are falling from the skies, their numbers crashing in mass extinctions? Henk Tennekes has an answer: He cites evidence in his book that the species suffering dramatic losses (mostly out of public view) in the past two decades -- sparrows, swifts, starlings, and many other insectivores -- are struggling to find food; insects such as beetles, springtails, and earthworms are being wiped out by neonicotinoid insecticides, chiefly imidacloprid and clothianidin.

"The excessive imidacloprid levels noted in surface water of ... [places] with intensive agriculture have been associated with insect decline and [subsequently] a dramatic decline of common grassland birds."

The author, a toxicologist in the Netherlands, documents the threat neonicotinoids pose, even at very low levels, their mode of action similar to that of chemical carcinogens. These persistent nerve poisons, applied since 1991 as systemic seed and soil treatments, cause ecological damage in two major ways: They kill insects of all kinds by devastating their nervous systems, and they migrate from soil into waterways, then dispersing throughout local ecosystems.

Bird deaths: the fallout

It’s biblical, it’s big news and it’s giving plenty of fodder to conspiracy theorists. But are mass deaths of wildlife an early warning sign of the damage humankind is doing to the planet? When thousands of birds fall out of the sky – as they’ve been doing across the world this last week – it’s eerie to say the least.

But the mass bird deaths may not be just a freak of nature; they could be an indication of how we’ve poisoned our planet.

Birds are disappearing and dying off en masse across the world because the insects on which they depend for vital protein are being wiped out by toxic pesticides, according to new scientific evidence.

EU beekeeping associations are calling for an urgent revision of pesticide regulations

The European Beekeeping Coordination (EBC), a task force of professional beekeeping associations from across the EU, is calling for an urgent revision of the way pesticides and their active substances are authorised in the EU. In a leaked memo EPA scientists state that “information from standard tests and field studies, as well as incident reports involving neonicotinoids insecticides (e.g., imidacloprid) suggest the potential for long-term toxic risk to honey bees and other beneficial insects” and they criticise existing approvals research as deficient and request additional tests “for additional chronic testing on bee hive activity (e.g., effects to queen, larvae, etc.).”

Zwaluwloze hemelen anno 2010

Mocht ik de laatste jaren afgegaan zijn op de komst van de zwaluwen als signaal dat de lente er was, ik stond nog te wachten in mijn deurgat. De tijd dat deze F 16’s onder de vogels zowat het zomerse luchtruim domineerden, ligt al een tijdje achter ons. Deze ongrijpbare kwetterende stippen die, net als bliksemschichten, onvoorspelbare parcours maken, mijden onze verstedelijkte habitat meer en meer. De herfst nadert en de elektriciteitsdraden in mijn straat, vroeger ingenomen door samenklittende zwaluwen die hun zuidelijke reisroute zaten te bespreken, blijven onbezet. Een nieuwe generatie medemensen zal dit plaatje nooit missen en de ouderen, die zijn morgen ook vertrokken naar het eeuwige zuiden!

Fatale vergrijzing onder grutto’s in Nederland

Het zal niet lang meer duren voor de grutto Limosa limosa in Nederland een zeldzame broedvogel is. ‘We weten dat het niet goed gaat met de grutto in Nederland, maar de omvang van het probleem wordt nog verhuld door de lange levensduur van de volwassen vogels. Doordat er echter nauwelijks jonge vogels bijkomen, vergrijst de populatie en neemt uiteindelijk af. Als we deze weidevogel hier willen behouden, moet er echt iets gebeuren.’ Dat stelt Julia Schröder naar aanleiding van haar onderzoek bij de grutto. Schröder promoveerde 11 januari 2010 aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

Meerderheid Tweede Kamer: sterke landbouwsector moet zich niet laten kapen door milieugoeroes

EU landbouwcommissaris Ciolos wil dat natuurbeleid na 2013 een grotere rol in het Europese landbouwbeleid gaat spelen, maar een meerderheid van de Tweede Kamer heeft met steun van VVD, PVV en CDA een motie van De Mos (PVV) en Koopmans (CDA) aangenomen waarin het kabinet wordt opgeroepen de wens van de EU commissaris naast zich neer te leggen. Gesteld wordt dat boeren de beste natuurbeheerders zijn die je kunt bedenken. De motie verzoekt de regering zich in te zetten voor een sterke landbouwsector die zich niet laat kapen door milieugoeroes.

Acetamiprid and thiacloprid can be as toxic to honey bees as imidacloprid and thiamethoxam

Laboratory bioassays conducted to determine the contact honey bee toxicity of commercial neonicotinoid insecticides showed that the nitro-substituted compounds were the most toxic to the honey bee with LD50 values of 18 ng/bee for imidacloprid and 30 ng for thiamethoxam. The cyano-substituted neonicotinoids exhibited a much lower toxicity with LD50 values for acetamiprid and thiacloprid of 7.1 and 14.6 µg/bee, respectively. However, piperonyl butoxide and propiconazole increased honey bee toxicity of acetamiprid 6.0- and 105-fold and thiacloprid 154- and 559-fold, respectively, but had a minimal effect on imidacloprid (1.70 and 1.52-fold, respectively). A broad survey of pesticide residues conducted on samples from North American apiaries during the 2007–08 growing seasons revealed the presence of 121 different pesticides and metabolites within wax, pollen, bee and associated hive samples, including acetamiprid, thiacloprid, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, piperonyl butoxide and propiconazole. Thus, under practical circumstances, acetamiprid and thiacloprid can be as toxic to honey bees as imidacloprid and thiamethoxam.

U.S. Bee Culture Magazine's Review of Henk Tennekes' Book "Disaster in the Making"

It is notable that this book and information on the scandal at EPA regarding registration of Bayer’s clothianidin become available at about the same time. EPA, brought on the carpet for grossly mishandling the registration due process of this chemical in part because of information first published in Bee Culture by Tom Theobald in July, certainly has some ‘splainin to do on their process, and the bureaucratic rug they swept their mess under when they allowed Bayer free rein with this deadly cocktail. And Bayer, too, has some ‘splainin to do on their gross negligence on performing even the minimum testing for honey bee safety before they even got a conditional registration from EPA seven years ago. It was, as Tom says, research fraud at its best. There are some beekeepers in this country that are convinced that this chemical, and others like it are closely associated with CCD. There’s evidence to support that. Dr. Tennekes would probably agree. His slim book catalogs a tragedy of monumental proportions regarding the loss of the insect-feeding (invertebrate-dependent) bird populations in all environments in the Netherlands. And he ties the disappearance to agriculture generally, and the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid in particular. Clothianidin is no different, he says. He brings together the disasters of surface water contamination and the decline of nearly all life forms associated with that resource, but then he also includes the decline of insect feeding woodland birds in Britain, the Low Countries, Germany, Switzerland, and France. It is a telling, and gruesome story. The insects are gone. And now, so are the birds. The question is...what, or maybe who, is next?