It appears that scientists, and farmers too, are taking a closer look at the ubiquitous use of neonicotinoid seed treatments in US corn, soybean and other crops. Neonics are powerful insecticides used to coat the outside of a wide variety of seeds including grain and oilseed crops. The brightly-dyed layer of pesticide is designed to […]
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Monarch butterflies need milkweed to survive. Declining populations of this iconic butterfly have been driven by many factors, but until recently, one undisputed factor has received the most attention — the loss of milkweed in the wake of the near-universal adoption of Roundup Ready corn, soybean, cotton canola, alfalfa, and sugarbeets. And these are serious […]
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A consortium of environmental groups are urging EU policy makers to do more to protect declining insect populations as part of the European “Green Deal.” As ABC news has reported , the EU’s sweeping climate proposal seeks to make Europe “the first climate-neutral continent.” It calls for, among other things, several major ag and land […]
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New science has, for the first time, replicated in a lab experiment the neural impacts on baby bees triggered when foraging adults are exposed to one type of insecticide. The widely used neonicotinoid (“neonic”) insecticide imidacloprid was the focus of the study done by a team at Imperial College London, whose key finding is summarized […]
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Last week the USDA unveiled it’s new Agriculture Innovation Agenda, a “sustainability” plan with the goal of achieving a 50% reduction in the environmental footprint of US agriculture by 2050, as Politico reports. Sonny Perdue announced the new policy at an annual agency gathering in Virginia on February 20, 2020, or 02/20/2020 – an appropriate […]
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Ever wonder about the impact of heavy, year-to-year applications of glyphosate-based herbicides on wildlife and ecosystem food chains? Environmental Health News provides some key, fresh insights in “What’s the world’s most widely used herbicide doing to tiny critters?” We already know that glyphosate and other pesticides have become ubiquitous in streams and groundwater, suggesting ecological impacts are likely […]
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A duo of research scientists from Australian universities have conducted an extensive review of global data on insect populations, with stark results. Their analysis of 73 historical reports was published this month in the journal Biological Conservation. It reveals “dramatic rates of decline that may lead to the extinction of 40% of the world’s insect species over the […]
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We know that neonicotinoid insecticides are no-good for bees and other pollinators, even at very low levels of exposure. We know the major neonic — imidacloprid (Admire®) — is the single most acutely toxic pesticide to bees ever discovered, narrowly edging out the former #1 methyl parathion. But scientists are still trying to figure just […]
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Troubling and significant declines in monarch butterfly populations in Florida have occured over the last 30+years, according to a research team from the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, part of the Florida Museum of Natural History. A paper by the FLA team was published this summer in the Journal of Natural History, and reports […]
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With neonicotinoid insecticides under fire for contributing to pollinator decline, Dow AgroSciences is pushing its sulfoxaflor insecticide as an alternative. As Environmental Health News reports, Dow applied to the EPA for an expansion of the registration of sulfoxaflor to allow use on “rice, avocados, residential ornamentals and at tree farms and greenhouses.” But, is this new […]
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