Beleid en debat

Dat meldt de politie zaterdag. De scholieren van een basisschool werden dinsdag ziek nadat ze het middagmaal op school hadden gegeten. Uit eerste elementen van het onderzoek bleek dat de container die gebruikt werd in de bereiding, eerder zou gebruikt zijn om een insecticide in op te slaan. Dat wordt nu bevestigd. Bij labotests werden in olie, voedselresten, borden en bestek elementen van monocrotofos aangetroffen, een pesticide die veel gebruikt wordt in de Indiase landbouw, aldus de politie. De stof is extreem toxisch voor de mens en ontleedt bij verhitting of bij verbranding met vorming van giftige en irriterende dampen, waaronder stikstofoxiden en fosforoxiden.

There is now compelling evidence of a reduction of pollinator richness and density at a global scale. In this opinion article, we argue that such pollinator decline intensifies pollen limitation and reduces plant reproductive success, threatening natural populations of extinction. We use genetic architecture and selection experiments on floral traits and evaluate the potential for plant reproductive strategies to adapt rapidly to new pollination environments. We propose that plant reproductive strategies could adapt to the current pollinator decline by decreasing or increasing their reliance to pollinators, for example, increasing autonomous selfing or reinforcing interactions with pollinators. We further discuss if and how adaptation of plant reproductive strategies can buffer the demographic consequences of pollinator decline, and possibly rescue plant populations from extinction.

There is mounting evidence of pollinator decline all over the world and consequences in many agricultural areas could be significant. We assessed these consequences by measuring 1) the contribution of insect pollination to the world agricultural output economic value, and 2) the vulnerability of world agriculture in the face of pollinator decline. We used a bioeconomic approach, which integrated the production dependence ratio on pollinators, for the 100 crops used directly for human food worldwide as listed by FAO. The total economic value of pollination worldwide amounted to €153 billion, which represented 9.5% of the value of the world agricultural production used for human food in 2005. In terms of welfare, the consumer surplus loss was estimated between €190 and €310 billion based upon average price elasticities of − 1.5 to − 0.8, respectively. Vegetables and fruits were the leading crop categories in value of insect pollination with about €50 billion each, followed by edible oil crops, stimulants, nuts and spices.

A recent estimate has pegged the population of the small, dark and swift-moving birds at 260,000. That's down from 400,000 birds counted in 2008, according to an Audubon California survey. The tricolored blackbird (Agelaius tricolor) – with its red shoulder patch and a white bar of feathers on its wing – differs from the more common red-winged blackbird in that it is a species that lives in tight colonies. "We are, absolutely, concerned about the species because we've had a 33 percent decline in their numbers between 2008 and 2011," said Keiller Kyle, conservation project director for Audubon California. The declines are being seen throughout the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys and as far south as Riverside County. The low population numbers are a stark contrast to what was seen in 1937, when it was estimated that as many as 3 million tricolored blackbirds darkened the sky statewide. With substantially lower populations today, the fear is that if the species is not safeguarded, it could become endangered and swiftly go the way of two colonial bird species – the passenger pigeon and the Carolina parakeet. Both are now extinct.

Dear Mr. President,
We write to highlight a very important concern: the negative environmental and economic impacts of outdoor uses of the EPA-approved neonicotinoid insecticides: imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, dinetofuran and acetamiprid. On April 29, the European Union voted for a two-year suspension on major uses of the three most common neonicotinoids: imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam. The decision came on the heels of comprehensive, peer-reviewed research conducted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which indicated that those three insecticides pose both acute and chronic hazards to honey bees and that significant gaps exist in the data needed to assess their safety. The EU decision signals the way forward for your Administration to suspend neonicotinoids in the United States.

Rozenkwekerij de Bierkreek heeft 340.000 euro subsidie van het Ministerie van Economische Zaken gekregen om een methode op de markt te zetten om containerteelt zonder insecticiden mogelijk te maken. De Bierkreek gaat de komende vier jaar samen met HAS Hogeschool en HAS kennistransfer aan het project werken. Om containerteelt vrij van insecticiden te krijgen zijn voornamelijk aanpassingen van containervelden nodig. Door het aantrekken van natuurlijke vijanden als zweefvliegen, sluipwespen, lieveheersbeestjes en gaasvliegen zijn minder bestrijdingsmiddelen nodig. Hierdoor zou de plant beter beschermd zijn tegen schade door luizen, trips, spint en andere insecten. HAS-studenten onderzoeken hoe de inrichting van een containerveld moet worden aangepast. De Bierkreek is op zoek naar tuincentra, handelaren en kwekers die willen meewerken aan dit project. Het hoeven geen biologisch gecertificeerde bedrijven te zijn.

Over a million commercially produced bumblebee colonies are imported annually on a global scale for the pollination of greenhouse crops. After importation, they interact with other pollinators, with an associated risk of any parasites they carry infecting and harming native bees. National and supranational regulations are designed to prevent this, and commercially produced bumblebee colonies are accordingly now often sold and imported as being parasite-free. Here, we used molecular methods to examine the occurrence of parasites in bumblebee colonies that were commercially produced in 2011 and 2012 by three producers. We then used controlled experiments to determine whether any parasites present were infectious. We found that 77% of the commercially produced bumblebee colonies from the three producers, which were imported on the basis of being free of parasites, in fact carried microbial parasites, with five different parasites being detected across the total sample of bumblebees and a further three in the pollen supplied with the colonies as food.

L’EFSA a publié un document d’orientation relatif à l’évaluation des risques potentiels associés à l’utilisation de pesticides pour les abeilles communes, les bourdons et les abeilles solitaires. Le système précédent de l’UE en matière d’évaluation des risques pour les abeilles ne prenait pas entièrement en considération les risques associés à l’exposition chronique ou répétée aux pesticides, ni les risques potentiels pour les larves. Ce nouveau document d’orientation comble ces lacunes et prévoit également un système d’évaluation pour les bourdons et les abeilles solitaires. Il propose aussi une nouvelle méthode pour estimer si le préjudice potentiel pour les abeilles associé à l’utilisation d’un produit phytopharmaceutique est acceptable. Le document d’orientation de l’EFSA constitue une source de conseils actualisés à destination des acteurs impliqués dans l’évaluation des pesticides, notamment le secteur de l’industrie et les autorités publiques.

First genetically engineered plants were created 30 years ago. Commercial growing in the USA began almost 20 years ago. Initially, although US farmers had a number of advantages from cultivating herbicide-resistant crops (savings in working time, spraying lesser amounts of herbicide to kill weeds) this is now mostly reversed. The weeds have adapted to the cultivation of the genetically engineered plants so that farmers are experiencing a substantial increase in both working hours and the amounts of herbicide they require. Even the pest insects targeted by the cultivation of insecticide-producing plants have partially adapted. Secondary pests have now spread throughout maize cultivations and we have a scenario where plants have been genetically engineered to produce up to six different toxins. Agricultural technologies are drawing farmers into a production systemisation that will force agriculture towards more industrialisation and massively increase costs for seeds, without there being a substantial increase in yields or significant savings in the amounts of spray required.