[Pollinator] Fwd: Birds, Bees, and Aquatic Life Threatened by Gross Underestimate of Toxic...
Ladadams at aol.com
Ladadams at aol.com
Tue Mar 19 09:09:32 PDT 2013
____________________________________
From: pkevan at uoguelph.ca
To: lda at pollinator.org
Sent: 3/19/2013 8:28:14 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: Fwd: Birds, Bees, and Aquatic Life Threatened by Gross Underestimate
of Toxicity of World's Most Widely Used Pesticide
Birds, Bees, and Aquatic Life Threatened by Gross Underestimate of
Toxicity of World's Most Widely Used Pesticide
New Report Charges EPA Ignored Staff Warnings, Approved Widespread Use of
Dangerous Pesticides
_http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/130319.html_
(http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/130319.html)
MEDIA RELEASE
Contact: Robert Johns, 202-234-7181 ext.210, _Email click here_
(mailto:bjohns at abcbirds.org)
Grasshopper Sparrow by Luke Seitz. The new ABC report shows that a single
corn kernel coated with a neonicotinoid can kill a songbird.
(Washington, D.C. March 19, 2013) As part of a study on impacts from the
world’s most widely used class of insecticides, nicotine-like chemicals
called neonicotinoids, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has called for a ban on
their use as seed treatments and for the suspension of all applications
pending an independent review of the products’ effects on birds, terrestrial
and aquatic invertebrates, and other wildlife.
“It is clear that these chemicals have the potential to affect entire food
chains. The environmental persistence of the neonicotinoids, their
propensity for runoff and for groundwater infiltration, and their cumulative and
largely irreversible mode of action in invertebrates raise significant
environmental concerns,” said Cynthia Palmer, co-author of the report and
Pesticides Program Manager for ABC, one of the nation’s leading bird
conservation organizations.
ABC commissioned world renowned environmental toxicologist Dr. Pierre
Mineau to conduct the research. The 100-page report, “_The Impact of the Nation
’s Most Widely Used Insecticides on Birds_
(http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/toxins/Neonic_FINAL.pdf) ,” reviews 200 studies on
neonicotinoids including industry research obtained through the US Freedom of
Information Act. The report evaluates the toxicological risk to birds and aquatic
systems and includes extensive comparisons with the older pesticides that
the neonicotinoids have replaced. The assessment concludes that the
neonicotinoids are lethal to birds and to the aquatic systems on which they depend.
“A single corn kernel coated with a neonicotinoid can kill a songbird,”
Palmer said. “Even a tiny grain of wheat or canola treated with the oldest
neonicotinoid -- called imidacloprid -- can fatally poison a bird. And as
little as 1/10th of a neonicotinoid-coated corn seed per day during
egg-laying season is all that is needed to affect reproduction.”
The new report concludes that neonicotinoid contamination levels in both
surface- and ground water in the United States and around the world are
already beyond the threshold found to kill many aquatic invertebrates. Data on
surface water contamination from surveys to date, most notably from
California and from the Canadian Prairies, indicate that concentrations of
several of the neonicotinoid insecticides are high enough to be causing impacts
in aquatic food chains. Data from other jurisdictions such as the
Netherlands show even higher levels of contamination.
The report also identifies procedural deficiencies in how the US
Environmental Protection Agency assesses aquatic impacts. “EPA risk assessments
have greatly underestimated this risk, using scientifically unsound, outdated
methodology that has more to do with a game of chance than with a rigorous
scientific process,” the report says.
First introduced in the 1990s in response to widespread pest resistance
and health concerns linked to older pesticides, the neonicotinoid
insecticides quickly became top sellers in global pesticide markets. Now the most
widely-used insecticides in the world, it is difficult to find pest control
commodities that do not contain one or several of the neonicotinoid
insecticides. California alone has registered nearly 300 neonicotinoid products.
EPA scientists have repeatedly documented serious concerns about the
persistence, mobility and toxicity of the products, and yet the Agency
continues to grant registrations allowing the chemicals to be used for an
ever-widening range of crops and non-agricultural use sites.
EPA and other regulatory agencies worldwide have underestimated the
toxicity of these compounds to birds partly because the risk assessment methods
fail to account sufficiently for interspecies variation in toxicity. For
example, risk assessments underestimate acute risk by up to 10 fold for bird
species beyond mallard ducks and bobwhites, the two usual test species. As
for aquatic invertebrates, EPA has underestimated the toxicity of the
neonicotinoid imidacloprid by over an order of magnitude because of the Agency’s
failure to consider data from the peer-reviewed literature. EPA has
grossly underestimated the toxicity of the other neonicotinoids as well, in part
due to the Agency’s reliance on their standard test species, Daphnia magna,
a freshwater flea which happens to be uniquely insensitive to
neonicotinoids.
Given that a single neonicotinoid-coated seed can kill a bird, it is also
important that seeds marketed for home bird feeders remain free of these
chemical treatments. In response to sporadic wild bird seed contamination
incidents, ABC has monitored bird seed sold by Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes and
Target. To date, ABC’s independent bird-seed testing efforts have focused
on older products such as the organophosphorous and carbamate pesticides.
The neonicotinoids are a candidate for future testing.
The report also charges that there is no readily available biomarker for
neonicotinoids as there is for cholinesterase inhibitors such as the
organophosphorous pesticides.
“It is astonishing that EPA would allow a pesticide to be used in hundreds
of products without ever requiring the registrant to develop the tools
needed to diagnose poisoned wildlife. It would be relatively simple to create
a binding assay for the neural receptor which is affected by this class of
insecticides,” said Dr. Mineau. The ABC report calls on EPA to require
that registrants of acutely toxic pesticides develop the tools necessary to
diagnose poisoned birds and other wildlife.
Neonicotinoids’ toxicity to bees and other insects has brought them the
most attention thus far and has dominated recent concerns of regulatory
institutions worldwide. The serious risk to bees should not be understated, as
one-third of the U.S. diet depends on these insect pollinators. The ABC
assessment makes clear, however, that the potential environmental impacts of
neonicotinoids go well beyond bees. The report urges EPA to expand its
registration review of neonicotinoids to include birds, aquatic invertebrates,
and other wildlife.
#
American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership
organization whose mission is to conserve native birds and their habitats
throughout the Americas. ABC acts by safeguarding the rarest species,
conserving and restoring habitats, and reducing threats, while building capacity
in the bird conservation movement.
MEDIA RELEASE
Contacts: Robert Johns, 202-234-7181 ext.210, _bjohns at abcbirds.org_ (mai
lto:bjohns at abcbirds.org)
Scott Hoffman Black, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation,
503-449-3792, _sblack at xerces.org_ (mailto:sblack at xerces.org)
Steve Ellis, Commercial Beekeeper, Old Mill Honey Company (Cal. and Minn.)
651-357-8280, _nhbabsellis at gmail.com_ (mailto:nhbabsellis at gmail.com)
Peter Jenkins, Attorney, Consultant, Center for Food Safety, 301-500-4383,
_pjenkins at centerforfoodsafety.org_
(mailto:pjenkins at centerforfoodsafety.org)
Media Advisory
· WHAT: Congressional and media briefing and expert testimony
about the toxic effects of neonicotinoid pesticides and their impact on
birds, bees, and other wildlife.
· WHO: A panel of leaders in the science, wildlife, agriculture
and beekeeping communities will brief Congressional staff and media.
· WHEN: Tuesday, March 19th — 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. EST
· WHERE: EPW Committee Room, 406 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC
· RSVP: Stephanie von Blackwood at _svonblackwood at abcbirds.org_
(mailto:svonblackwood at abcbirds.org) or 202-234-7181
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Background
Briefing Title: From Birds to Bees: Assessing the Impacts of the Nation’s
Most Widely-Used Insecticides
In the past decade, many studies have implicated a class of pesticides
known as “neonicotinoids” in the declines of pollinator populations,
including bumble bees and honey bees.
The toxic impact that these chemicals may be having on bees and other
insects has brought them the most attention recently, and rightly so; one-third
of the U.S. diet depends on pollinator services and they contribute over
$15 billion to the U.S. agricultural economy. Pollinator losses represent a
serious threat to the agricultural industry and our nation’s food security.
First introduced in the 1990s in response to widespread pest resistance as
well as public health objections to older pesticides, the neonicotinoid
class of insecticides are now the most widely used insecticides in the world;
it is difficult to find pest control commodities that do not contain one
or several of these chemicals. The environmental persistence of
neonicotinoids, their propensity for runoff and for groundwater infiltration, and their
cumulative effects on invertebrates raise environmental concerns that go
well beyond bees. A new American Bird Conservancy commissioned report by
renowned environmental toxicologist Pierre Mineau reviews the effects on
avian species and on the aquatic systems on which they depend. Larger ecosystem
impacts and the relationship between neonicotinoids and alarming declines
of birds, bees, and other organisms will be addressed.
Speakers:
· Pierre Mineau, Toxicologist
· Scott Hoffman Black, Xerces Society for Invertebrate
Conservation, IUCN Butterfly Specialist Group
· Steve Ellis, Commercial Beekeeper, Old Mill Honey Company
(California and Minnesota)
· Peter Jenkins, Attorney, Consultant, Center for Food Safety
Moderator:
· Cynthia Palmer, American Bird Conservancy
Severe losses in critical pollinator species continue to have crippling
effects on our nation’s agricultural economy. Experts will address the
impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on birds, bees, and other beneficial
invertebrates as well as broader ecosystem concerns, along with how Congress might
be able to fix the problems.
[Text File:message-footer.txt]
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20130319/94e9a46a/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2280 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20130319/94e9a46a/attachment-0002.jpe>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 10666 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20130319/94e9a46a/attachment-0003.jpe>
More information about the Pollinator
mailing list