More: Another scientific study links a neonicontinoid pesticide, imidacloprid to devastation of acquatic insects and snails when it pollutes water in the field. The Dutch study is important because 20,000 tons of the killer pesticide is not used to treat crops but combat fleas and other pests in cattle each year in the EU. Published in the peer reviewed journal
PLOS One, the study found 70% fewer invertebrate species in ditch water polluted with imidacloprid compared with unpolluted water. 700 sites across the Netherlands were surveyed for wildlife species and pollution levels between 1998 and 2009. Imidacloprid is known to be acutely toxic to invertebrates and some sites were acutely polluted by the pesticide, sometimes thousands of times above the national Dutch limit. The EU standard is five times higher than the Dutch limit. Conservationists say the study shows that pesticides are being misapplied above safe levels and they are killing wildlife, not just agricultural pests. Tested ditch water contained so much imidacloprid, it could itself be used as a pesticide. Dr. Jeroen van der Sluijs, leading author, called for the immediate phasing out of the pesticide as too dangerous as it is used in the field.
 |
| credit: Avaaz.org |
{2.5.13}Tonio Borg, EU commissioner for health announced that the European Union wil go ahead with a ban on three bee-killing pesticides, clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiametoxam. This is a major victory for all those activists around the world that expressed their desire for bees to be protected from neonicotinoids in Europe. Avaaz.org, the global campaign network, alone submitted 2.6 million signatures on a petition requesting the systemic chemicals be banned. Bees pollinate a third of human food, without them agriculture as we know it will collapse. Now, it is time for the United States to follow Europe's lead. European restrictions will begin December 1st. The vote was close and under the population weighted voting procedure used and the second vote on the issue Monday was still not enough to win with a qualified majority. Fifteen nations including France and Germany voted for the ban. Italy, Hungary, UK and six others voted no and four other nations abstained. But the indecision among member states allowed the EU's executive body, the European Commission, to go ahead. Pro-pesticide groups predictably said the ban is based on science that is inconclusive. It is undeniable that honeybee populations have plummeted in Europe and the United States.
For two years activists applied political pressure with messages to politicians, high-exposure street protests, and funding for polls to demonstrate public support for a ban. In January 2011, France withstood severe pressure from the pesticide industry to end its ban on the use of neonicotinoids in that country. The stand sent a strong message to the rest of Europe. The European Food Safety Agency found three pesticides posed unacceptable risks to bees, but despite the science the Commission proposal to ban neonicotinoids was defeated in a close vote.
{04.02.13} Two major agricultural nations voted against the ban, the UK and Germany. Activists went to work to convince EU representatives that their constituents, including beekeepers, wanted a ban by large majorities. On reconsideration, the decision was reversed when Bulgaria and Germany switch their votes and supported a ban. However, the ban is not permanent and will only last two years pending further review. Bees still need our help because they suffer from
a complex of deadly conditions, pesticides being but one, but Europe's decision is an important victory in their defense.
