Thursday, June 14, 2012

Neonicotinoid pesticides under review in Canada

Health Canada just announced they are re-evaluating the safety of the neonicotinoid pesticides Clothianidin, Thiamethoxam, and Imidacloprid.

The government of France recently proposed to ban thiamethoxam (Cruiser), which is used to treat canola seed before planting. France and Germany both banned some uses of imidacloprid in 2003 and 2008 respectively (see this balanced Wikipedia article for details). U.S. beekeepers and British environmental groups have called for their governments to ban these compounds.

A large number of recent scientific studies that show these pesticides can harm pollinators, including honeybees and bumblebees. These papers have come from a number of different researchers and many of them have been quite rigorous and published in high-profile journals where every article gets very careful peer-review. They include:
  • A study to be published this month from Harvard School of Public Health scientist Chensheng Lu fed honeybee colonies with high fructose corn syrup containing levels of imidacloprid found in the environment (corn seed is treated, and the pesticide travels throughout the plant). Colonies given the pesticide-laced syrup died suddenly, months later, in a manner reminiscent of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
  • Christian Krupke's group at Purdue University showed that treated seed releases pesticide into the environment in several different ways, that pesticide gets into bees, and that it harms them. I covered this report in a January blog entry.
  • Italian researchers showed small droplets of sap released by corn seedlings are highly toxic to bees when the seed was treated.
  • British researchers published in the top journal Science showing that bumblebee colonies exposed to realistic levels of these pesticides produced 85% fewer queens to carry on the species next year.
These are just a few of the many careful articles published in the last few years on this subject. The evidence that neonicotinoid pesticide as used in current agricultural practices can and does harm bees is overwhelming.

Of course Health Canada will take some time to come to a decision - this is a government bureaucracy after all. During that time the manufacturers of neonicotinoid pesticides will lobby the government vigorously. It's a good time to get a cool drink, a pen or laptop, and write a letter to your MP expressing your views on this issue.

7 comments:

  1. Use of the pre-cautionary principle needs to be applied in this case. . . this is something the Government of Canada understands and has published . . . a pre-cautionary ban needs to be put into place immediately -- we need all of our pollinators for our food supply -- for without our bees, we as humans will surely become extinct!. . . what are these chemical manufacturers thinking? . . . then again, it's all about the money. . . complacency by the general public plays right into the hands of the corporatocracy. . . so what does our society value?. . . a healthy, balanced life in harmony with Mother Earth or extinction?. . . that is what we are facing today! thanks kindly for your thoughtful blog --

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    1. Thanks Anonymous...I think we are past the precautionary principle with the number and quality of studies done. However, the argument sure to be made by pro-neonic groups is that farm income depends on these compounds, so banning them without replacement may do harm to farmers. This will be vigorously discussed in the months to come...Clement

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  2. Any updates on this? Thanks!

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    1. Are you kidding Curious? There is a lot of money to be made here, call us back in 5 years.

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  3. Do you know where this is now with the Canadian government? This is a year ago and the situation is still not corrected and as the EU has banned neonicotinoids, we should be bringing this to light here. This gov't refuses to ban so much that will protect our food such as GMOs we need to make them understand that what is good for most corporations is rarely good for us.

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    1. These politicians want to keep these toxins on the market as long as they can so Bayer and Syngenta can rake in a few more billion and hopefully have some trickle down effect, so for now expect more distractions like varroa mites, viruses, loss of habitat, weather, on and on. Everything but neonicotinoids.

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  4. I spoke to a representative of Health Canada at a recent pollinators conference in Toronto. Her comment was that 2018 was the last date for completion, they would do it earlier if they could. No date commitment though.

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