From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):
“Clearly, we are not fully understanding the implications of these pesticides.”
That’s South Dakotan farmer and researcher Jonathan Lundgren, talking about neonicotinoids — or neonics — the most widely used class of pesticides in the world.1
They’ve been linked to the plummeting populations of bees, which are critical for crop pollination. Now, an increasing number of studies, including Lundgren’s, are linking them to health and birth defects and developmental issues in birds, deer, fish and more.2
Go to https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=44515 to tell the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency: Ban the worst uses of neonics, including pre-treated seeds, sale to consumers and use in wildlife refuges.
Even if bees were the only creatures harmed by neonics, we’d still be right to be concerned.
- Stark drops in bee numbers nationwide — such as the estimated loss of 40 percent of beekeepers’ colonies in 2019 alone — have been linked to the rapid increase in neonic use on U.S. agricultural land.3,4
- And bees of all kinds, from wild bumblebees to domesticated honeybees, are nature’s best pollinators. They play an irreplaceable role in the health of crops and ecosystems alike.5
But mounting evidence that neonics are harming other creatures makes the need to restrict their use even more urgent.
Studies on sparrows, pheasants, white-tailed deer, raccoons, otters and more find that many of these creatures ingest the pesticides by consuming seeds pre-coated in neonics and plants sprung from those seeds. Today, these coated seeds are so ubiquitous that many farmers don’t even realize they’re using treated varieties.6
And among the creatures that ingested neonics, observed effects have been serious.
- Sparrows experienced a reduced ability to migrate.
- Pheasants laid fewer eggs and saw a 20 percent decline in chick survival.
- Deer grew up malformed and with undersized organs.
- Fish populations at a Japanese fishery collapsed due to neonic pollution from a neighboring farm.7
Unless and until these substances are proven safe, we should immediately ban their most egregious and unnecessary uses. Tell the EPA to take action.
The European Union, Canada and some U.S. states have already taken action on what is clearly a growing problem.
By following their lead and banning the most unnecessary uses of neonics, we can begin to move agriculture in a more sustainable direction — and protect ecosystems, crops and wildlife from coast to coast.
1. Elizabeth Royte, “These widely used insecticides may be a threat to mammals too,” National Geographic, February 5, 2021.
2. Elizabeth Royte, “These widely used insecticides may be a threat to mammals too,” National Geographic, February 5, 2021.
3. Dharna Noor, “A Record Number of Bees Died Last Summer,” Gizmodo, June 22, 2020.
4. Lauren Aratani, “Pesticide widely used in US particularly harmful to bees, study finds,” The Guardian, August 6, 2019.
5. “Native plants and ecosystem services: Pollination,” Michigan State University Department of Entomology, last accessed February 25, 2020.
6. Elizabeth Royte, “These widely used insecticides may be a threat to mammals too,” National Geographic, February 5, 2021.
7. Elizabeth Royte, “These widely used insecticides may be a threat to mammals too,” National Geographic, February 5, 2021.
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