Systemic Pesticides: Chemicals You Can't Wash Off (nitroguanidine/neonicotinoid chemicals)

Systemic Pesticides: Chemicals You Can’t Wash Off

In conventional food production systems, not all pesticides remain on a plant’s exterior. Systemic pesticides are chemicals that are actually absorbed by a plant when applied to seeds, soil, or leaves. The chemicals then circulate through the plant’s tissues, killing the insects that feed on them. Use of these pesticides on food crops began in 1998, and has steadily increased during the past 10 years. Unlike with traditional insecticides, you can’t wash or peel off systemic pesticide residues.

The four main systemics used on food crops (listed below) are members of the nitroguanidine/neonicotinoid group of chemicals, which has been implicated in the mysterious colony collapse disorder that has killed millions of bees. (See our article Colony Collapse: Are Potent Pesticides Killing Honeybees?)

Continue Learning:  http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/systemic-pesticides-zmaz10onzraw.aspx#axzz2wBFM4aXM

Community Passes Resolution Banning Neonicotinoids

The resolution notes that "children and infants may be especially sensitive to health risks posed by pesticides for several reasons: (a) their internal organs are still developing and maturing; (b) in relation to their body weight, infants and children eat and drink more than adults, possibly increasing their exposure to pesticides in food and water; and (c) certain behaviors, such as playing on floors or lawns or putting objects in their mouths, increase a child’s exposure to pesticides used in homes and yards"” On neonicotinoids, the resolution refers to recent research suggesting a possible link between pesticides that contain neonicotinoids and the die-off of plant pollinators, including honey bees, native bees, butterflies, moths, and other insects.

Continue Learning:  http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=12881

Monsanto - Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD): Monsanto Invests in Pollinator Research, Ignores Effects of Pesticides

St. Louis-based chemical and seed giant Monsanto Co. has purchased a company called Beeologics, which has developed a product intended to counteract viral agents that plague honey bee colonies in an attempt to stem the effects of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

The product is currently being reviewed for potential commercial sale by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

CCD has devastated bees and beekeepers around the country in recent years, a phenomenon that that many scientists have tied to the use of the systemic neonicotinoid insecticides widely used in agriculture and gardens.

The United Nations (UN) also revealed in a report that the collapse of honey bee colonies is now a global phenomenon.

While CCD appears to have multiple interacting causes, a range of evidence points to sub-lethal pesticide exposures and pathogens as important contributing factors.

Neonicotinoids, the particularly suspect class of insecticides, especially in combination with the dozens of other pesticides, have been found in honey bee hives and the use of chemicals in agriculture has been found to damage bees by weakening their immune systems. Laboratory studies show that some insecticides and fungicides can act together to be 1,000 times more toxic to bees. They can also affect the sense of direction, memory and brain metabolism, and herbicides and pesticides may reduce the availability of plants bees need for food and for the larval stages of some pollinators.

However, the emerging science finds that pesticides like clothianidin and others mentioned above do in fact harm bees. See Beyond Pesticides’ factsheet on the connection between clothianidin and CCD.

For more information, on honeybees and pesticides visit Beyond Pesticides’ Pollinators and Pesticides page.

read more