<div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">This release can be
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">News Release</span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">July 24, 2014 </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">Alex Demas </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">Kathy Kuivila </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:24pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">Insecticides Similar to Nicotine
Widespread in Midwest</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">Insecticides similar to
nicotine, known as neonicotinoids, were found commonly in streams throughout
the Midwest, according to a new USGS study. This is the first broad-scale
investigation of neonicotinoid insecticides in the Midwestern United States and
one of the first conducted within the United States.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">Effective in killing a
broad range of insect pests, use of neonicotinoid insecticides has dramatically
increased over the last decade across the United States, particularly in the
Midwest. The use of clothianidin, one of the chemicals studied, on corn in Iowa
alone has almost doubled between 2011 and 2013.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">“Neonicotinoid
insecticides are receiving increased attention by scientists as we explore the
possible links between pesticides, nutrition, infectious disease, and other
stress factors in the environment possibly associated with honeybee dieoffs.”
said USGS scientist Kathryn Kuivila, the research team leader.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">Neonicotinoid
insecticides dissolve easily in water, but do not break down quickly in the
environment. This means they are likely to be transported away in runoff from
the fields where they were first applied to nearby surface water and
groundwater bodies.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">In all, nine rivers and
streams, including the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, were included in the
study. The rivers studied drain most of Iowa, and parts of Minnesota, Montana,
Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. These states have the
highest use of neonicotinoid insecticides in the Nation, and the chemicals were
found in all nine rivers and streams.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">Of the three most often
found chemicals, clothianidin was the most commonly detected, showing up in 75
percent of the sites and at the highest concentration. Thiamethoxam was found
at 47 percent of the sites, and imidacloprid was found at 23 percent. Two,
acetamiprid and dinotefuran, were only found once, and the sixth, thiacloprid,
was never detected.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">Instead of being sprayed
on growing or full-grown crops, neonicotinoids can be applied to the seed
before planting. The use of treated seeds in the United States has increased to
the point where most corn and soybeans planted in the United States have a seed
treatment (i.e., coating), many of which include neonicotinoid insecticides.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">“We noticed higher
levels of these insecticides after rain storms during crop planting, which is
similar to the spring flushing of herbicides that has been documented in
Midwestern U.S. rivers and streams,” said USGS scientist Michelle Hladik, the
report’s lead author. “In fact, the insecticides also were detected prior to
their first use during the growing season, which indicates that they can
persist from applications in prior years.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">One of the chemicals,
imidacloprid, is known to be toxic to aquatic organisms at 10-100 nanograms per
liter if the aquatic organisms are exposed to it for an extended period of
time. Clothianidin and thiamethoxam behave similarly to imidacloprid, and are
therefore anticipated to have similar effect levels. Maximum concentrations of
clothianidin, thiamethoxam and imidacloprid measured in this study were 257,
185, and 42.7 nanograms per liter, respectively.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has classified all detected neonicotinoids as not likely to
be carcinogenic to humans.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">The paper, “Widespread
occurrence of neonicotinoid insecticides in streams in a high corn and soybean
producing region, USA” and has been published in </span><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2014.06.033"><i><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:blue">Environmental Pollution</span></i></a><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">. Learn more about the study and the long-term
USGS effort to gather information on the environmental occurrence of new
pesticides in different geographic, climatic, and use settings </span><a href="http://toxics.usgs.gov/highlights/neonics.html"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:blue">here</span></a><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">. To learn more about
USGS environmental health science, please visit the </span><a href="http://www.usgs.gov/envirohealth/"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:blue">USGS Environmental Health website</span></a><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black"> and sign up for our </span><a href="http://www.usgs.gov/envirohealth/geohealth/index.html"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:blue">GeoHealth Newsletter</span></a><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;color:black">.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><br></div><br clear="all"><div>Steve Hilburger<div>Ecosystems Mission Area</div><div>Wildlife Program</div><div>703-648-4036</div><div><a href="mailto:shilburger@usgs.gov" target="_blank">shilburger@usgs.gov</a></div>
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