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  • A world without pesticides?

    It’s been well known for quite some time that the human population has been booming like never before. Thanks to advances in technology, medicine and science, people are living longer lives and creating bigger families to follow in their footsteps.

    While it’s always a benefit for people to have an improved length and quality of life, it also puts a strain on natural resources. Specifically, as more people are born, more food has to be produced. This need for food has created an opening for pesticides, which have been used to minimize pests and help crops flourish.

    There are many downsides to using pesticides, which has made many people look into more natural ways to farm food. But can all natural farming happen for global food production and still keep up with the high demand for products? Read on to learn more about what global food production would look like without pesticides and if that’s a possibility for the future.

    The idea behind the creation of pesticides was one that hasn’t disappeared. Farmers still want to protect their crops from pests without adding to their already busy workload. One of the ways pesticides met this need was by using chemicals to target pests, but that left farms around the world with many different, environmentally dangerous problems.

    Pesticides release chemicals into the environment where they’re sprayed. Harmless bugs are killed when they’re caught in the spray, and other animals are hurt when they drink chemical runoff after fields drain into local rivers.

    Soil is another key farming element that’s damaged by pesticides. After the pesticides are sprayed, they can alter the soil’s pH levels and make it more difficult for crops to grow. When the soil’s structure is weakened, it erodes more easily and gets washed away by heavy rains.

    Without the presence of pesticides, fields would be greener in every sense of the word. The soil would be healthier, erode less easily and the surrounding environment would be safer for wildlife and plants trying to thrive.

    Farmers have relied on pesticides for decades because they’re easy to use. It’s especially easy if they’ve got bigger farms with equipment to spray everything for them while they’re off the fields.

    It may seem like stopping the use of pesticides would result in more work, but that’s not true. It would just take a little more planning. One of the oldest methods of preventing pests was crop rotation. Certain insects will die without a constant host plant, so when the crops are rotated, the insect issue goes away.

    Other methods of pesticides could be sprayed too. Bugs will never entirely stop eating at plants even with the best pesticides, but farmers can stop bugs from eating plants by using safer materials like vegetable oil, dish soap and rubbing alcohol to kill off current insects and prevent more from coming back.

    Then there are other techniques like flaming. Flaming takes care of two problems at once, by blowing carefully directed fire towards hoards of insects and weeds. The hot temperature destroys weed cells and insects, preventing any live insects from re-invading and finding a home in the same spot.

    Depending on what crop each farmer grows, the size of their field and where they live, farmers can find better techniques to fight insects without using pesticides with a little research and planning.

    In order to get the world’s production of food all grown without pesticides, farmers would need resources to learn the different techniques and growing processes.

    Some groups have already thought of this issue and are ahead of the game. The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) is a group that aims to unite farmers and work towards worldwide sustainable agriculture.

    Meetings and summits provide an opportunity for farmers to learn more about sustainable farming and get rid of harmful practices like using pesticides.

    Farmers can also learn more by taking online classes. Courses are available for a cheaper price than traditional university educations that result in certificates for farmers. They provide essential sustainable knowledge so farmers know how to replace things like pesticides with greener alternatives, while still keeping production up.

    Access to online and in-person forms of education is one of the biggest steps farmers can take if the world were to switch over to pesticide-free farming.

    If farmers were able to learn how to go green and leave pesticides behind, the only concern left would be to wonder if organically grown food could meet the demands of the current worldwide population.

    Studies have been done to show that this wouldn’t be an issue. Corn is one of the most important worldwide crops.

    The issue with organic farming isn’t the organic nature of how the crops are grown and cared for. Successful farming without pesticides would come down to farmers having resources at their disposal.

    Methods such as crop rotation and flaming could keep bugs at bay, for much less of the cost of buying pesticides each year.

    Armed with greener techniques and an eco-focused education, the global food production would look identical, if not even more bountiful, without pesticides.

    Source: The Ecologist, 2 September 2019
    https://theecologist.org/2019/sep/02/world-without-pesticides

  • France to propose pesticide-free buffer zones in residential areas

    The French government is preparing to fix a 5m or 10m pesticide-free buffer zone around housing areas, after several local mayors defied the government by banning weed killers like glyphosate in their towns. But environmentalists say such distances fall short of the mark. The government will begin discussing legislation to introduce pesticide-free buffer zones on Monday, an Agriculture Ministry spokesperson told AFP.

    The recommendations, in line with those of the French agency for food, environmental, occupational health and safety (Anses), will depend on the crops concerned. Low crops such as vegetables could be subject to a buffer zone of 5 metres, with 10 metres for higher crops such as cereals. The proposed legislation follows growing concerns over the impact pesticide use can have on human health.

    Source: RFI, 7 September 2019
    http://en.rfi.fr/france/20190907-france-pesticides-buffer-zones

  • Henk Tennekes story retold

    America’s agricultural landscape is now 48 times more toxic to honeybees, and likely other insects, than it was 25 years ago, almost entirely due to widespread use of so-called neonicotinoid pesticides, according to a new study published today in the journal PLOS One. This enormous rise in toxicity matches the sharp declines in bees, butterflies, and other pollinators as well as birds, says co-author Kendra Klein, senior staff scientist at Friends of the Earth US. “This is the second Silent Spring. Neonics are like a new DDT, except they are a thousand times more toxic to bees than DDT was,” Klein says in an interview.

    Using a new tool that measures toxicity to honey bees, the length of time a pesticide remains toxic, and the amount used in a year, Klein and researchers from three other institutions determined that the new generation of pesticides has made agriculture far more toxic to insects. Honey bees are used as a proxy for all insects. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does the same thing when requiring toxicity data for pesticide registration purposes, she explained.

    The study found that neonics accounted for 92 percent of this increased toxicity. Neonics are not only incredibly toxic to honeybees, they can remain toxic for more than 1,000 days in the environment, said Klein. “It’s stunning. This study reveals the buildup of toxic neonics in the environment, which can explain why insect populations have declined,” says Steve Holmer of American Bird Conservancy.

    As insects have declined, the numbers of insect-eating birds have plummeted in recent decades. There’s also been a widespread decline in nearly all bird species, Holmer said. “Every bird needs to eat insects at some point in their life cycle.”

    Neonic insecticides, also known as neonicotinoids, are used on over 140 different agricultural crops in more than 120 countries. They attack the central nervous system of insects, causing overstimulation of their nerve cells, paralysis and death.They are systemic insecticides, which means plants absorb them and incorporate the toxin into all of their tissues: stems, leaves, pollen, nectar, sap. It also means neonics are in the plant 24/7, from seed to harvest, including dead leaves. Nearly all of neonic use in the U.S. is for coating seeds, including almost all corn and oilseed rape seed, the majority of soy and cotton seeds, and many yard plants from garden centers.

    However only 5 percent of the toxin ends up the corn or soy plant; the rest ends up the soil and the environment. Neonics readily dissolve in water, meaning what’s used on the farm won’t stay on the farm. They’ve contaminated streams, ponds, and wetlands, studies have found.

    Some scientists have been warning that there is an “insect apocalypse” underway. A global analysis of 452 species in 2014 estimated that insect abundance had declined 45 percent over 40 years. In the U.S. the numbers of iconic Monarch butterflies has fallen 80 to 90 percent in the last 20 years. A study published last month reported that 81 species of butterflies in Ohio declined by an average of 33 percent in the last 20 years. Systematic measurements of butterfly populations are the best indicator of how the world’s 5.5 million insect species are doing, the authors of the Ohio study noted.

    Not only do bees, butterflies, and other insects pollinate one-third of all food crops, declining insect numbers can also have catastrophic ecological repercussions. Renowned Harvard entomologist E.O. Wilson has said that without insects the rest of life, including humanity, “would mostly disappear from the land. And within a few months.”

    In April 2019 a major study warned that 40 percent of all insect species face extinction due to pesticides—particularly neonics, since they’re the most widely used insecticide on the planet.

    Source: National Geographic, 6 August 2019
    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/08/insect-apocalypse-under-way-toxic-pesticides-agriculture/

  • Pitfalls in pesticide regulation that fail to identify critical aspects of chemical toxicity

    Expenditure for discovery and development of a new crop protection product is now approaching the $ 300 million mark, while at the same time underpinning critical information gaps in environmental safety assessment. Large information gaps also exist for the safety of a vast number of existing chemicals in commerce. The catastrophy in the insect world inflicted by time-reinforced toxicity of neonicotinoids is a case in point. We are on the brink of an ecological Armageddon as a result of pitfalls in pesticide regulation that fail to identify critical aspects of chemical toxicity.

    The current approach to toxicity testing and risk analysis was probably secondary to the adoption of the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) concept for chemicals in the early 1960s by FAO and WHO. This concept promoted by French professor René Truhaut as a risk management strategy was embraced by the chemical industry as a manageable concept for product development.

    I consider this development to be one of the biggest derailments in the history of the life sciences with major consequences for the design of safety studies with chemicals. The number of dosages to be investigated is so low that quantitative testing of dose-effect relationships is virtually impossible and the observation results have no predictive value for practical situations. The dependence of dose-effect relationships on exposure time can not be quantified either. But the most serious shortcoming of current experimental design is that cumulative toxicity cannot be demonstrated, which jeopardizes the safety of ADI.

  • De valkuilen bij de regulering van pesticiden

    De uitgaven voor de ontdekking en ontwikkeling van een nieuw gewasbeschermingsmiddel naderen nu de grens van 300 miljoen dollar, terwijl tegelijkertijd kritische leemten in de informatie inzake milieu veiligheid duidelijk zijn geworden. Er zijn ook grote hiaten in de informatie voor de veiligheid van een groot aantal bestaande chemicaliën. De catastrofe in de insectenwereld, die wordt aangetast door de extreme toxiciteit van neonicotinoïden, is hiervan een goed voorbeeld. We staan aan de vooravond van een ecologisch armageddon als gevolg van valkuilen bij de regulering van pesticiden die er niet in slagen om kritieke aspecten van chemische toxiciteit te identificeren. De huidige aanpak van toxiciteitstests en risicoanalyse is een gevolg van de aanvaarding van het aanvaardbare dagelijkse inname (ADI) -concept voor chemicaliën in de vroege jaren 1960 door de FAO en de WHO. Dit concept, gepromoot door de Franse professor René Truhaut als een risicobeheerstrategie, werd door de chemische industrie omarmd als een hanteerbaar concept voor productontwikkeling. Ik beschouw deze ontwikkeling als één van de grootste ontsporingen in de geschiedenis van de levenswetenschappen met grote gevolgen voor de proefopzet van veiligheidsstudies met chemicaliën. Het aantal te onderzoeken doseringen is zo laag dat kwantitatief onderzoek van dosis-werkingsrelaties vrijwel onmogelijk is en de waarnemingsuitkomsten hebben geen enkele voorspellende waarde voor praktijk situaties. De afhankelijkheid van dosis-werkings relaties van de blootstelingtijd kan eveneens niet kwantitatief in beeld worden gebracht. Maar het ernstigste manco van de huidige proefopzet is dat cumulatieve toxiciteit niet kan worden worden aangetoond waarmee de veiligheid van de ADI op losse schroeven komt te staan.

  • Zwaluw legt het loodje

    De jonge zwaluwen in Groningen en het Lauwersmeergebied sterven bij bosjes. Bovendien zijn tal van zwaluwnesten leeg gebleven dit voorjaar. Ecoloog Jan Doevendans maakt zich grote zorgen. Volgens hem verhongeren de zwaluwen door de massale insectensterfte. ,,75 procent van de insecten is verdwenen, wat de inzet is van de teloorgang van de zwaluw.’’
    Hij hoopt dat hij ongelijk heeft, maar hij voorziet een ecologische ramp. ,,Er is iets ernstigs aan de hand als zelfs in een stil, donker, waterrijk en groot natuurgebied als het Lauwersmeer te weinig insecten zijn.’’ Een nest zwaluwen eet 3000 tot 4000 insecten per dag.

    Doevendans heeft sinds de jaren zeventig honderden nestkasten gemonteerd voor zwaluwen. Die hangen niet alleen in het Lauwersmeergebied, maar ook in de stad Groningen en elders. Op alle plekken stuit hij op hetzelfde probleem. Kasten waar geen zwaluwen te bekennen zijn (,,De veertig nesten aan de Oosterhamrikkade waren vorig jaar allemaal bewoond. Nu slechts twee!’’) en áls er een nest bezet is dan telt het armoedige of dode jongen. ,,De jonkies hebben ondergewicht, ze voelen koud aan en het aantal kuikens per nest is lager. Daar kan maar één reden voor zijn: te weinig vreten.’’

    Bron: Dagblad van het Noorden, 1 juli 2018
    https://www.dvhn.nl/groningen/Zwaluw-legt-het-loodje-Groningse-ecoloog-luidt-de-noodklok-23328336.html?utm_medium=article_sharing&utm_source=twitter

  • Irish bird populations suffering serious decline

    Birdwatch Ireland’s research has shown that the country has lost half a million waterbirds or almost 40% in less than 20 years. Among species in decline are Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula), Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) and Pochard (Aythya ferina). It says that there has been an “almost complete extermination” of farmland birds such as the Corncrake (Crex crex). It says the Curlew (Numenius arquata) is now on the verge of extinction in Ireland with only 150 pairs remaining of the 5,000 pairs nesting in Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s.The Corn Bunting (Emberiza calandra) once common in arable land became extinct in Ireland in 1991. The Barn Owl (Tyto alba) population has declined dramatically. Countryside and farmland species have also been falling. Among seabirds Puffins (Fratercula arctica) and Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) are globally threatened and have declining populations in Ireland.

    Source: RTË, 2 July 2019
    https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2019/0701/1059570-birds/

  • Damselflies are being harmed by thiacloprid

    Damselfly populations are being harmed by insecticides as researchers find the wildlife scourge of neonicotinoids continues to grow. Some chemicals in this group have already been banned by the EU but thiacloprid is still in widespread use. Similar chemicals in the neonicotinoid family have already been tied to severe decline in bee populations and now it appears the damage is more widespread. The team exposed caged and free-flying damselflies to realistic concentrations of the chemical in test ditches and found infected animals ate less, were less active and had a slowed reproductive growth rate.

    Dozens of studies have shown that neonicotinoid exposure is the primary driver of colony collapse disorder and the decline of honeybees all over the world. This study says that other insects are also being negatively affected, including damselflies – which look like dragonflies but with slimmer bodies.

    Source: Daily Mail Online, 8 July 2019
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7224483/Deadly-pesticide-destroyed-bee-populations-affecting-damselflies.html

  • Pesticide Exposure Linked to Teen Depression in Agricultural Communities

    Adolescents exposed to elevated levels of pesticides are at an increased risk of depression, according to a new study led by Jose R. Suarez-Lopez, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at University of California San Diego School of Medicine. The study was published online (ahead of print) in June 2019 in the journal International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health.

    Suarez-Lopez and colleagues have been tracking the development of children living near agriculture in the Ecuadorian Andes since 2008. In this latest study, they examined 529 adolescents between the ages of 11 and 17. Ecuador is the world’s third-largest exporter of roses, with much of the flower production located near the homes of participants. Like many other agricultural crops, flowers are routinely sprayed with organophosphate insecticides, which are known to affect the human cholinergic system, a key system in the function of the brain and nervous system.

    The results confirmed their hypothesis: teens who had lower AChE activity, suggesting greater exposure to cholinesterase inhibitors, showed more symptoms of depression assessed using a standardized depression assessment tool. Notably, the association was stronger for girls (who comprised half of all participants) and for teens younger than 14 years.

    Source:
    University of California San Diego School of Medicine
    https://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2019-07-02-pesticide-exposure-linked-to-teen-depression-in-ag-communities.aspx

    Journal reference:
    Suarez-Lopez, J.R. et al. (2019) Associations of acetylcholinesterase activity with depression and anxiety symptoms among adolescents growing up near pesticide spray sites. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health. doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2019.06.001.

  • Feldvögel sterben aus

    Schon 20 Feldvogelarten, darunter Braunkehlchen, Rebhuhn, Kiebitz oder Uferschnepf, sind rund um Kassel nicht mehr zu sehen, da diese Arten bereits ausgestorben sind. „Und um den Neuntöter ist es auch schon schlecht bestellt, ebenso um die Feldlerche, den Vogel des Jahres 2019“, sagen Manfred Henkel und Martin Lange vom Nabu Kaufungen-Lohfelden. Im Landkreis sei ihr Bestand dramatisch gesunken. Die beiden Naturschützer läuten Alarm. Nachdem vor rund einem Jahr das Insektensterben in den Medien ein großes Thema war, sind es nun die Feldvögel. Erst jüngst hatte der Europäische Vogelzählrat (European Bird Sensus Council), ein Zusammenschluss europäischer Vogelexperten mit Sitz in Nijmegen (Niederlande), ernüchternde Zahlen geliefert. So sei der Bestand an Feldvögeln von 1980 bis 2016 europaweit um rund 56 Prozent geschrumpft.

    „Das deckt sich mit dem, was wir hier auch in der Region beobachten“, sagt Henkel. Rund 20 von rund 40 typischen Feldvogelarten seien im Raum Kassel schon komplett von der Bildfläche verschwunden. Die noch verbliebenen Arten würden in ihrer Individuenzahl stark sinken. Hauptgründe für das große Sterben der Feldvögel ist das Fehlen von geeigneten Lebensräumen und akuter Nahrungsmangel durch das massenhafte Verschwinden von Insekten. „Die industrialisierte Landwirtschaft nimmt den Tieren alles weg“.

    Dabei seien die Vögel noch die augenfälligsten Tiere, die in der freien Ackerflur beobachtbar seien. „Viele andere Tierarten gehen verloren, ohne dass wir das wirklich bemerken“, sagt Lange. Früher sei es normal gewesen, dass rechts und links Insekten wie Grashüpfer, Käfer oder Schmetterlinge davon surrten, wenn man über eine Wiese gelaufen sei. „Davon ist nichts mehr zu sehen“.

    Der Einsatz von Spritzmitteln störe nachhaltig das Ökosystem Ackerflur – mit allen negativen Folgen für die Nahrungskette und für ökologische Netzwerke. „Pestizide sind Massenvernichtungsmittel“, sagt Lange. Diese Substanzen zeigten nach Jahrzehnte langer Anwendung nun ihre Wirkung. „Es ist kaum noch etwas übrig“.
    Und ein Umschwenken ist nicht in Sicht. „Die Glyphosat-Debatte ist keine zwei Jahre alt – und alles geht weiter wie bisher“.

    Hauptursache sei die EU-Agrarpolitik. „Sie basiert auf subventionierter Massenproduktion. Die Landwirte müssen darauf reagieren, wenn sie im Geschäft bleiben wollen“, sagt Henkel. So zähle inzwischen jedes Kilogramm an produziertem Getreide, und jeder nutzbare Quadratmeter Boden. Die Folge davon ist, dass in den vergangenen Jahren viele Lebenräume wie Hecken, Ackerradstreifen oder Randstreifen von Feldwegen verschwunden seien. Auch Brachen und Kleingewässer gebe es nicht mehr oder inzwischen viel zu selten. Mit dem Aufkommen von Energiepflanzen wie Raps und Mais für die Biogas- und Sprit-Produktion sei zudem ein massiver Verlust von Grünland festzustellen. „Jeder Quadratzentimeter ist inzwischen erschlossen“.

    Das sei der Overkill für viele Tierarten, die wesentliche Teile ihres Lebens in Agrarlandschaften verbringen – egal ob Feldhamster, Feldhase, zahlreiche Insekten, Reptilien, Amphibien oder eben die Feldvogelarten wie das Rebhuhn oder der Fasan, die viel Deckung und Ruheräume benötigen, sagt Henkel.

    Die breite Bekämpfung von Wildkräutern und Insekten trage das Übrige dazu bei. „Große Insekten wie Grillen oder Heupferde sind die Hauptnahrung des Neuntöters. Wer aber hat zuletzt ein Heupferd geschweige denn einen Neuntöter gesehen?“ Selbst Mäuse, die auch auf der Speisekarte des Neuntöters stünden, würden inzwischen systematisch bekämpft. „Wir haben es aktuell mit einer eklatanten Verarmung unserer Landschaft zu tun“, sagt Lange. Umdenken und rasches Handeln habe inzwischen höchste Priorität.

    Nach Auffassung des Nabu Kaufungen-Lohfelden sind folgende Schritte unumgänglich, um die Artenvielfalt auf dem Land nicht weiter zu gefährden.
    Neuorganisation des EU-Agrar-Subventionssystems: Öko-Landbau muss Förderstandard werden. Anders gesagt: Subventionen gehen nur noch an Betriebe, die umwelt-, natur- und klimagerecht arbeiten.
    Beschränkung des Anbaus von Energiepflanzen, die für die Energiewende eingesetzt werden.
    Pestizidverbot im Umfeld hochwertiger ökologischer Flächen.
    Verbot von Neonicotinoiden und Alternativsubstanzen sowie von Breitbandherbiziden wie Glyphosat.
    Neujustierung von Zulassungsverfahren mitsamt strengerer Prüfvorgaben bei der Genehmigung von Pestiziden.
    Großräumige Wiedervernetzung von Lebensräumen in der Agrarlandschaft.
    Verbot für die Beseitigung von Kleinbiotopen, stattdessen Belohnung für die Neuanlage von Hecken, Feldgehölzen und Kleingewässern.
    Bessere finanzielle Ausstattung von Naturschutzprogrammen und Forschungsvorhaben in Richtung einer nachhaltigen Agrarproduktion

    Quelle: HNA,12.06.19
    https://www.hna.de/lokales/kreis-kassel/kreis-kassel-ort306256/feldvoegel-sterben-in-region-um-kassel-aus-12371163.html