[All] Letter in Record on neonics by GREN member Greg M

[John Jackson]

Effects of neonics go well beyond bees
Waterloo Region Record

Wynne government reveals its anti-science sentiments ‹ Dec. 11


Peter Shawn Taylor claims the Ontario government is "anti-scientific"
because it is proposing to limit the use of neonicotinoid insecticides,
which have been implicated in the decline of honey bees.

He claims the action is "an effort to play up to vocal lobby groups," and
that banning neonics is "unwarranted by available scientific evidence."

Unfortunately, Taylor has a big problem: he simply hasn't bothered to read
the available scientific evidence. Recent research published in Nature,
probably the most prestigious scientific journal in the world, reveals that
the harmful effects of neonics go far beyond just bees.

Only five per cent of applied neonics is taken up by the crops it is applied
to and the rest ends up as a pervasive contaminant in soil, water, and
non-target vegetation where it rapidly accumulates because it persists for
several years while more and more is being applied annually. Observers of
Dutch insect-eating bird populations report a "tremendous decline" in such
birds correlated with the introduction of the chemical over 10 years ago.
This is not a direct effect from contact between birds and the neurotoxin,
but rather what is called a "knock-on" effect: the insects are gone and
there is simply no food left for them to eat. Canadian birders report
similar alarming decreases in our birds.

There is knee-jerk opposition to the proposed ban, now from the Grain
Farmers of Ontario and CropLife Canada, which represents powerful
agrichemical companies.

Sadly, we've gone through this variety of "enviro death" before.

Here's the last sentence of Rachel Carson's 1962 "Silent Spring" which
revealed the disastrous environmental effects of then-new DDT: "It is our
alarming misfortune that so primitive a science has armed itself with the
most modern and terrible weapons, and that in turning them against the
insects it has also turned them against the Earth."

As for the "vocal lobby groups," Stephen Harper's government is attempting
to deal them a massive systemic laryngectomy.

A gentle letter about neonic concerns from Waterloo Region Nature (until a
few weeks ago known as the Kitchener-Waterloo Field Naturalists) to the
federal government resulted in an aggressive investigation by the Canadian
Revenue Agency.

It is interesting that the favourite method used by Russian president Putin
to silence public opposition groups is to drum up phoney tax-evasion charges
and send their leaders to jail. So, in Canada, we now appear to have
Putin-lite.


Greg Michalenko

Assistant professor emeritus

Environment and resource studies

University of Waterloo

Waterloo

-------------------------------------
See also article in today¹s Globe and Mail on this topic:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/neonics-sowing-seeds-of-di
scontent/article22078266/

Neonic efficacy in spotlight as Ontario plans to curb usage
ERIC ATKINS
The Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Dec. 14 2014, 4:54 PM EST
Last updated Monday, Dec. 15 2014, 7:47 AM EST
  

Ontario farmer Sean McGivern grows corn and soybeans with the help of the
typical menu of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.

The one thing he does not use is neonicotinoids, the class of pesticide
linked to widespread declines in populations of pollinators.

Instead, Mr. McGivern relies on the age-old practice of rotating crops, so
hungry worms and beetles can¹t thrive and spread season after season. But he
says too many farmers are trying to use neonics to repeatedly grow the same
crop in the same field.

It¹s a practice that has grown in popularity in step with the rise of
neonics, which have been linked to deaths of bees and other pollinators. The
pesticides have also been found in water and tied to the reduced numbers of
birds and the insects they eat.

The Ontario government plans to put in place rules to reduce the use of
neonics on corn and soybeans 80 per cent by 2017, in a bid to cut
overwintering bee deaths to 15 per cent, from the current 58 per cent, by
2020. The federal government, meanwhile, is reassessing its approval of the
pesticides, which are under a moratorium in Europe.

The Grain Farmers of Ontario, which is the largest farmers¹ lobby group,
says the ³near ban² will handcuff farmers. The group funded a study with the
chemical lobbyists CropLife Canada that said restricting neonics will slash
crop revenues by $630-million.

The makers of neonics, which include Germany¹s Bayer AG and Switzerland¹s
Syngenta AG, say the seed treatment is safe if used as directed, and
pollinator populations are increasing. They say the treatment, which is
applied to the seed and makes the plant toxic to insects, protects the
environment by helping farmers grow more on existing farmland.
³Neonicotinoid seed treatments have contributed to the adoption of
conservation tillage practices and the use of cover crops by farmers,² said
Erin O¹Hara, a CropLife spokeswoman.

³As the economics of growing corn improve, growing consecutive corn crops in
the same field is a very tempting prospect,² Bayer CropScience says of its
neonic corn-seed treatment, Poncho.

Scientists say neonics impair bees¹ abilities to forage, and worsen the
effects of viruses and blood-sucking mites. A study from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency found the chemicals did not boost crop
yields. A recent study from Pennsylvania State University said use of
neonics actually reduced crops yields by killing the insects that eat
plant-destroying slugs.

The seed treatments, which became popular in the past decade, have become an
insurance policy for farmers trying to protect their yields. In Ontario,
they are used on almost all corn and canola and most soybean seeds, in
addition to greenhouse vegetables and flowers.

For Mr. McGivern, whose family has grown grains and raised cattle near Owen
Sound, Ont., for 27 years, relying on neonics is akin to treating a person¹s
high blood pressure without tackling their weight problem.

³Rather than changing up the model to alleviate these pressures, they¹re
treating the side-effects of a broken system. There are a lot of farmers out
there who get it, but there are a lot of farmers who get all their advice
from the multinationals that are selling them all the products,² said Mr.
McGivern, who heads a group called Practical Farmers of Ontario, which bills
itself as a voice for family farms.

³There¹s no money made in giving people advice on how to do things that
don¹t cost something to do. So now we¹ve gone to a system where we have
multinational, petro-agricultural companies saying ŒYou don¹t need to have
crop rotation. We¹ll just sell you the technology and the seed that will
allow you to grow corn in the same field for five years.¹²

Will Trudell, owner of De Dell Seeds Inc. in London, Ont., said
neonic-treated seeds account for just 10 per cent of his sales, but he is
the exception in a seed-selling business that is dominated by such chemical
companies and their retail divisions.

³The big players all say the farmer is going to lose yield if they don¹t use
this. That¹s not true. It doesn¹t increase the yield at all, by putting on
the neonicotinoid; it only reduces the harmful effects by insect damage,²
Mr. Trudell said.

He pointed to an Ontario government study that found just 10 to 20 per cent
of the province¹s fields require neonic-treated crops to guard against
pests. ³If there¹s no insect pressure, there¹s no yield loss,² Mr. Trudell
said. ³That¹s a huge part of this story that needs telling.²

 



-- 
John Jackson
17 Major Street
Kitchener, Ontario N2H 4R1
519-744-7503


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