Neonicotinoids kill bees, other animals, new research

This video says about itself:

Killing Bees: Are Government and Industry Responsible?

18 September 2012

From Earth Focus/LinkTV: Honeybees, the essential pollinators of many of our major crops have been dying of in massive numbers since 2006. This threatens the US agricultural system and the one in twelve American jobs that depends on it.

There is growing evidence that a new class of pesticides — nerve toxins called neonicotinoids — used on most US crops including almost all corn — may be toxic to bees. The US Environmental Protection Agency allowed neonicotinoids on the market without adequate tests to determine their toxicity to bees. Environmentalists want neonicotinoids banned until needed safety tests are done. While the US government is slow to act and neonicotinoid sales reap billions for the chemical industry, bees continue to die.

From Science magazine:

14 November 2014

The trouble with neonicotinoids

Francisco Sánchez-Bayo

Four decades ago, DDT and other pesticides that cause environmental harm were banned. Since then, newly developed pesticides have had to conform to stricter environmental standards. Yet, recent studies highlight the subtle but deadly impacts of neonicotinoids—the most widely used insecticides in the world—on ecosystems (1–3).

In contrast to other insecticides, neonicotinoids are systemic, meaning that they are highly soluble and thus absorbed by the plant. They produce delayed mortality in arthropods after chronic exposure to sublethal doses but are not very toxic to vertebrates. It has taken more than a decade to unravel some of the mechanisms through which neonicotinoids affect the integrity of ecosystems. Although gaps in knowledge remain, there is a strong case for stricter regulation of these pesticides.

The full text of this article is here.

Less flowers, less bees: here.

Shedding Light on Three Big Lies About Systemic Pesticides and Bees: here.