Pesticide issues

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Pesticide issues

12wonderY
Bearbeitet: Mai 6, 2013, 9:21 am

I've recently been reading and watching the documentaries about bee colony collapse disorder, and I'm trying to be hyper-aware of any pesticide uses in my environment, especially the neonicotinoids.

The European Union has recently made the first legislative step to banning them. Our US agencies seem to be working at cross purposes when trying to determine risks/safety issues, according to a report released recently from the National Research Council:
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/science/science-a-environmental/42701-report-...

2margd
Jul. 28, 2013, 11:58 am

"...a new census taken at the monarch butterfly's wintering grounds found their population had declined 59 percent over the previous year and was at the lowest level ever measured... The use of Roundup ‘has effectively eliminated milkweed from almost all of the habitat monarchs used to use.’..."

Genetically modified Roundup-ready soybeans and corn makes increased use of pesticide possible. (I wonder if 2012 drought also is a factor in decline of monarchs?) We are probably just sticking a finger in a dyke, but butterfly lovers are encouraged to grow milkweed in our gardens: http://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/prop.htm

**********************************************

"(Orley) Taylor: What we’re seeing here in the United States is a very precipitous decline of monarchs that’s coincident with the adoption of Roundup-ready corn and soybeans. The first ones were introduced in 1997, soybeans first, then corn. By 2003, 2004, the adoption rate was approaching 50 percent, and then we really began to see a decline in monarchs. And the reason is that the most productive habitat for monarch butterflies in the Midwest, in the Corn Belt, was the corn and soybean fields where milkweed, which monarchs feed on, grew. Before Roundup-ready crops, weed control was accomplished by running a tiller through those fields and chopping up the weeds and turning over the soil, but not affecting the crops. The milkweed survives that sort of tillage to some extent. So there were maybe 20, 30, 40 plants per acre out there, enough so that you could see them, you could photograph them."

"Now you are really hard pressed to find any corn or soybeans that have milkweed in the fields. I haven’t seen any for years now because of the use of Roundup after they planted these crops. They have effectively eliminated milkweed from almost all of the habitat that monarchs used to use..."

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/tracking_the_causes_of_sharp__decline_of_the_monarc...

3margd
Nov. 26, 2014, 9:29 am

A first step, which should help birds and insect-eating birds: Ontario reduces use of neonicotinoids. Farmers etc. are abuzz--so hope Ontario can continue drawdown. Liberals recently won majority government with little support from rural ridings, so govt IS in position to push ahead:

"...Ontario is slashing farmers' use of a controversial seed-coating pesticide that has been linked to mass bee die-offs across Ontario.

In the first phase-down of neonicotinoids in North America, the coating, used on almost all corn seeds and most soybeans planted on about five million Ontario acres, will be allowed on only 80% of the acreage by 2017..."

QMI, Nov 26, 29014

42wonderY
Nov. 26, 2014, 10:27 am

Minnesota farmers look at where they're going:
http://www.startribune.com/local/274006381.html

5margd
Nov. 26, 2014, 10:48 am

Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency calls neoniotinoid use "unsustainable, but given Canada's industry-loving conservative government, plus cooperative approach with EPA, provinces may meed to act. (Republican Conress in US plans to hobble EPA?) Wonder what/if California plans to do? They often lead in such matters.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pubs/pest/_fact-fiche/protect_bee-proteger_abeill...

62wonderY
Bearbeitet: Nov. 26, 2014, 10:52 am

Neonicotinoids make up almost one-third of insecticides used. In 2011 the International Union for Conservation of Nature set up a task force to review the safety of systemic pesticides. After reviewing over 800 studies the group now says present use "is not sustainable", and calls for a global phase-out.

The chemicals break down more slowly than early tests suggested, says author Jeroen van der Sluijs of Utrecht University in the Netherlands. These past studies, which informed the decision to allow the use of neonicotinoids, looked mostly at immediate effects. But long-term environmental build-up may be the real problem, so the task force says the previous regulatory studies "lack environmental relevance".

The European Union has imposed a two-year moratorium on neonicotinoids, but their half-life in soil can be three years, so this may be too little to see what happens when they are gone.

The group found that levels of neonicotinoids in water often exceeded legal limits in both North America and Europe. Even in non-treated fields, the neonicotinoids and their breakdown products were harming many creatures. That includes bacteria, amoebae, worms and insects in soils; pollinators such as hoverflies and butterflies; and even lizards, because the termites they eat are dying. "What really surprised me is that these chemicals are even harming coastal organisms like crabs and shellfish," says van der Sluijs.

The impacts on soil organisms could affect the whole nutrient recycling process, says van der Sluijs. Even when levels are too low to kill, the neural toxicity of neonicotinoids impairs earthworms' ability to tunnel and feed.

reference: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25783-neonicotinoid-pesticides-are-bad-new...

7margd
Nov. 26, 2014, 11:00 am

Birds, too...

Caspar A Hakkman et al. 2014. Declines in insectivorous birds are associated with high neonicotinoid concentrations. Nature. Published online 9 July 2014 http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13531.html

"Recent studies have shown that neonicotinoid insecticides have adverse effects on non-target invertebrate species1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Invertebrates constitute a substantial part of the diet of many bird species during the breeding season and are indispensable for raising offspring7. We investigated the hypothesis that the most widely used neonicotinoid insecticide, imidacloprid, has a negative impact on insectivorous bird populations. Here we show that, in the Netherlands, local population trends were significantly more negative in areas with higher surface-water concentrations of imidacloprid. At imidacloprid concentrations of more than 20 nanograms per litre, bird populations tended to decline by 3.5 per cent on average annually. Additional analyses revealed that this spatial pattern of decline appeared only after the introduction of imidacloprid to the Netherlands, in the mid-1990s. We further show that the recent negative relationship remains after correcting for spatial differences in land-use changes that are known to affect bird populations in farmland. Our results suggest that the impact of neonicotinoids on the natural environment is even more substantial than has recently been reported and is reminiscent of the effects of persistent insecticides in the past. Future legislation should take into account the potential cascading effects of neonicotinoids on ecosystems."

8MaureenRoy
Nov. 26, 2014, 3:36 pm

The monarch watch database doesn't extend to my geographic area ... we are within 100 miles of the Northern California coast. So we decided to buy The California Wildlife Habitat Garden, which is published by the California Native Plant Society. Many US states have these native plant societies. Here's the link for the online store of the California Native Plant Society:

http://store.cnps.org/collections/books/products/the-california-wildlife-habitat...

9margd
Bearbeitet: Jan. 4, 2015, 10:16 am

Just a head-up, in case you wish to write US Fish & Wildlife Service as it considers protections for Monarch Butterfly, e.g., directly from neonicotinoids and indirectly from Roundup decimation of milkweed:

In February 2014, Canadian, US and Mexican leaders agreed to form a working group to save Monarch Butterflies. In August, scientists and environmentalists requested that the US list the species as threatened. In response, the USFWS invites info by March 2, 2015 at website below for its review of the species' status. Listing the butterfly as threatened could trigger significant protections for its habitat.

Per the USFWS, "Monarch butterflies are found throughout the United States and some populations migrate vast distances across multiple generations each year. Many monarchs fly between the U.S., Mexico and Canada – a journey of over 3,000 miles. This journey has become more perilous for many monarchs because of threats along their migratory paths and on their breeding and wintering grounds. Threats include habitat loss – particularly the loss of milkweed, the monarch caterpillar’s sole food source – and mortality resulting from pesticide use. Monarch populations have declined significantly in recent years."

"The notice will publish in the Federal Register December 31, 2014, and it is requested that information be received by March 2, 2015. To view the notice and submit information, visit www.regulations.gov , docket number FWS-R3-ES-2014-0056."

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/news/764.htm

ETA: I remember the USFWS acting on something a while back, with an employee marvelling that they had received 800 postcards. There will be plenty of agribusiness comments on costs to them of protecting the butterfly. I hope regular folks will post to docket re the butterfly's value.

102wonderY
Bearbeitet: Sept. 6, 2016, 8:08 am

Spraying with non-selective organophosphate Naled to control mosquitos in the southern states endangers all the rest of the Class of insects and arthropods and who knows what else. Most obvious first victims are the bees.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/04/zika-mosquito-neurotoxin-kil...

112wonderY
Mrz. 13, 2017, 3:50 pm

Crop-Protecting Fungicides May Be Hurting The Honey Bees

"The long-standing assumption is that fungicides won't be toxic to insects," says May Berenbaum, an entomologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

But Berenbaum and her colleagues found, in a study published Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that fungicides can harm bees by making it harder for them to metabolize their food. If bees can't get energy from their food, they can't fly.

122wonderY
Bearbeitet: Mrz. 13, 2017, 3:58 pm

Chlorpyrifos and neurodevelopmental problems in children

Across the country, some 44,000 American farms collectively use between 6 million and 10 million pounds of chlorpyrifos each year on everything from corn, soybeans, asparagus, and peaches to strawberries, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, walnuts, and cranberries. Used on more than half of all apples and broccoli sold in the U.S., chlorpyrifos makes its way into the vast majority of American kitchens. The chemical has also been found in 15 percent of water samples taken around the country between 1991 and 2012 by the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Quality Assessment Program.

13margd
Mrz. 15, 2017, 11:25 am

@altUSEPA
Jess Rowland, rogue (health effects) man(a)ger at EPA's pesticide div'n retired immediately after the EPA rescinded a glyphosate report
_______________________________________________

EPA Official Accused of Helping Monsanto ‘Kill’ Cancer Study

The Environmental Protection Agency official who was in charge of evaluating the cancer risk of Monsanto Co.’s Roundup allegedly bragged to a company executive that he deserved a medal if he could kill another agency’s investigation into the herbicide’s key chemical.

The boast was made during an April 2015 phone conversation, according to farmers and others who say they’ve been sickened by the weed killer. After leaving his job as a manager in the EPA’s pesticide division last year, Jess Rowland has become a central figure in more than 20 lawsuits in the U.S. accusing the company of failing to warn consumers and regulators of the risk that its glyphosate-based herbicide can cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“If I can kill this I should get a medal,” Rowland told a Monsanto regulatory affairs manager who recounted the conversation in an email to his colleagues, according to a court filing made public Tuesday. The company was seeking Rowland’s help stopping an investigation of glyphosate by a separate office, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, that is part of the U.S. Health and Human Service Department, according to the filing....

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-14/monsanto-accused-of-ghost-wri...

15margd
Bearbeitet: Feb. 4, 2018, 2:56 am

UK and Switzerland are field-testing wildflower finding in farm fields: reduce pesticide use, increase yield, provide habitat, PRETTY!

Stripes of wildflowers across farm fields could cut pesticide spraying
Damian Carrington | Wed 31 Jan 2018

Long strips of bright wildflowers are being planted through crop fields to boost the natural predators of pests and potentially cut pesticide spraying.

The strips were planted on 15 large arable farms in central and eastern England last autumn and will be monitored for five years, as part of a trial run by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH).

Concern over the environmental damage caused by pesticides has grown rapidly in recent years. Using wildflower margins to support insects including hoverflies, parasitic wasps and ground beetles has been shown to slash pest numbers in crops and even increase yields.*

...GPS-guided harvesters can now precisely reap crops, meaning strips of wildflowers planted through crop fields can be avoided and left as refuges all year round. Pywell’s initial tests show that planting strips 100m apart means the predators are able to attack aphids and other pests throughout the field. The flowers planted include oxeye daisy, red clover, common knapweed and wild carrot.

In the new field trials, the strips are six metres wide and take up just 2% of the total field area. They will be monitored through a full rotation cycle from winter wheat to oil seed rape to spring barley...

Bill Parker, director of research at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board...A “huge cultural shift” was needed in agriculture, where currently pesticides are usually used whether or not pests have been identified. “The majority of crop protection advice given in the UK is from agronomists tied to companies who make their money from selling pesticides,” he said. “There is a commercial drive and they will tend to take a prophylactic approach.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/31/stripes-of-wildflowers-acros...

________________________________________________________

* Matthias Tschumi et al. 2015. High effectiveness of tailored flower strips in reducing pests and crop plant damage. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 7 September 2015. Volume 282, issue 1814. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1369. http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1814/20151369

Abstract

Providing key resources to animals may enhance both their biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide. We examined the performance of annual flower strips targeted at the promotion of natural pest control in winter wheat. Flower strips were experimentally sown along 10 winter wheat fields across a gradient of landscape complexity (i.e. proportion non-crop area within 750 m around focal fields) and compared with 15 fields with wheat control strips. We found strong reductions in cereal leaf beetle (CLB) density (larvae: 40%; adults of the second generation: 53%) and plant damage caused by CLB (61%) in fields with flower strips compared with control fields. Natural enemies of CLB were strongly increased in flower strips and in part also in adjacent wheat fields. Flower strip effects on natural enemies, pests and crop damage were largely independent of landscape complexity (8–75% non-crop area). Our study demonstrates a high effectiveness of annual flower strips in promoting pest control, reducing CLB pest levels below the economic threshold. Hence, the studied flower strip offers a viable alternative to insecticides. This highlights the high potential of tailored agri-environment schemes to contribute to ecological intensification and may encourage more farmers to adopt such schemes.

162wonderY
Feb. 15, 2018, 7:04 am

Arkansas vs. Monsanto

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/02/14/584647903/these-citizen-regulato...

Drifting dicamba hurt soybeans, backyard tomatoes, melons and orchards. Millions of acres of crops were affected, from Mississippi to Minnesota.

172wonderY
Mai 2, 2018, 8:22 am

This article covers the health issues of glyphosate pretty well.

https://www.nrdc.org/experts/jennifer-sass/pruitts-epa-defending-monsantos-glyph...

This is the part that makes me angriest

Contaminated Food – Widespread Population Exposure

The SAP Panelists raised concern at the potential for the general population including young children to be exposed to glyphosate at occupational levels. In its report, the SAP pointed out to EPA that the presumption that pesticide applicators had significantly higher exposures than the general population is incorrect; EPA’s high-end exposure estimate for 1-2 year old children (presuming all relevant foods have glyphosate residues at the maximum allowable limit) is 0.47 mg/kg/day, which is much higher than the exposure estimates for applicators and within the range of exposure estimates for pesticide mixers

However, there is still no public information on glyphosate residues in food. A 2014 report of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) was critical of FDA and USDA for both a failure to launch an effective pesticide residue testing program (GAO 2014). In response, the FDA finally started testing for residues of glyphosate in common foods only in the past two years, and no results have been officially made public yet.

Collapsing consumer confidence in the regulatory agencies led to consumer groups and academics doing their own testing, reporting glyphosate residues in breast milk, honey, cereal including oatmeal marketed for kids, infant formula, soy sauce, flour, and other food products (Reuters 2015; HuffPost Dec 6, 2017; US RTK Apr 18, 2018; Guardian, Apr 30 2018). Now reports in the Guardian reveal FDA internal documents showing that almost every food FDA has tested has been shown to be contaminated with glyphosate residues. “I have brought wheat crackers, granola cereal and corn meal from home and there’s a fair amount of glyphosate in all of them,” wrote FDA chemist Richard Thompson to colleagues in a 2017 mail reported in the Guardian (Guardian, Apr 30 2018).

182wonderY
Mai 8, 2018, 3:12 pm

Weedkiller products more toxic than their active ingredient, tests show

Another internal (Monsanto) email, written in 2010, said: “With regards to the carcinogenicity of our formulations we don’t have such testing on them directly.” And an internal Monsanto email from 2002 stated: “Glyphosate is OK but the formulated product … does the damage.”

192wonderY
Mai 8, 2018, 3:30 pm

https://yubanet.com/usa/judge-rules-non-profits-can-sue-monsanto-for-misleading-...

“In the face of EPA’s poor regulation of pesticides, misleading pesticide product labeling cannot be left unchecked. The court’s decision to allow our case to move forward, in denying Monsanto’s motion to dismiss, is critical to showing that the company is deceiving the public with a safety claim on its Roundup (glyphosate) label. Its advertising and labeling claim that Roundup ‘targets an enzyme found in plants but not in people or pets’ is false, given the devastating harm that glyphosate has on beneficial bacteria in the gut biome. The disruption of the gut biome is associated with a host of 21st century diseases, including asthma, autism, bacterial vaginosis, cardiovascular disease, cancer, Crohn’s disease, depression, inflammatory bowel disease, leaky gut syndrome, multiple sclerosis, obesity, Type 1 and 2 diabetes, and Parkinson’s.

202wonderY
Mai 8, 2018, 3:36 pm

http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/opinion/20180414/another-voice-glyphosate-the-g...

As a mineral chelating agent, glyphosate residues in the body may disrupt the system in many ways. It can introduce heavy metals picked up from the environment. It can remove minerals and harm beneficial bacteria, both essential for good health. There is also evidence that glyphosate is an endocrine disrupter, upsetting complex hormone systems, producing a wide array of diseases, at very low concentration levels.

212wonderY
Mai 8, 2018, 3:58 pm

https://sputniknews.com/environment/201804211063788521-germany-monsanto-weedkill...

On Tuesday, German Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner announced that legislation is being drafted to end the use of glyphosate in the country’s home gardens, parks and sports facilities.

"We need a full exit from glyphosate during this legislative period. Glyphosate kills everything that is green, depriving insects of their food source," Germany's new Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said earlier this month.

22margd
Sept. 25, 2018, 9:29 am

Common weed killer—believed harmless to animals—may be harming bees worldwide
Warren Cornwall | Sep. 24, 2018

Glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide and one long touted as harmless to animals, might be taking a toll on honey bees. The chemical appears to disrupt the microbial community in the bees’ digestive system, making them more vulnerable to infection. The discovery adds another potential reason for the alarming decline of honey bees in parts of the world, as well as that of other pollinators that live in colonies, such as bumble bees...

https://phys.org/news/2018-09-common-weed-killer-linked-bee.html#jCp

____________________________________________________________________

Erick V. S. Motta el al., "Glyphosate perturbs the gut microbiota of honey bees," PNAS (2018). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1803880115 http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/09/18/1803880115

Significance
Increased mortality of honey bee colonies has been attributed to several factors but is not fully understood. The herbicide glyphosate is expected to be innocuous to animals, including bees, because it targets an enzyme only found in plants and microorganisms. However, bees rely on a specialized gut microbiota that benefits growth and provides defense against pathogens. Most bee gut bacteria contain the enzyme targeted by glyphosate, but vary in whether they possess susceptible versions and, correspondingly, in tolerance to glyphosate. Exposing bees to glyphosate alters the bee gut community and increases susceptibility to infection by opportunistic pathogens. Understanding how glyphosate impacts bee gut symbionts and bee health will help elucidate a possible role of this chemical in colony decline.

Abstract
Glyphosate, the primary herbicide used globally for weed control, targets the 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) enzyme in the shikimate pathway found in plants and some microorganisms. Thus, glyphosate may affect bacterial symbionts of animals living near agricultural sites, including pollinators such as bees. The honey bee gut microbiota is dominated by eight bacterial species that promote weight gain and reduce pathogen susceptibility. The gene encoding EPSPS is present in almost all sequenced genomes of bee gut bacteria, indicating that they are potentially susceptible to glyphosate. We demonstrated that the relative and absolute abundances of dominant gut microbiota species are decreased in bees exposed to glyphosate at concentrations documented in the environment. Glyphosate exposure of young workers increased mortality of bees subsequently exposed to the opportunistic pathogen Serratia marcescens. Members of the bee gut microbiota varied in susceptibility to glyphosate, largely corresponding to whether they possessed an EPSPS of class I (sensitive to glyphosate) or class II (insensitive to glyphosate). This basis for differences in sensitivity was confirmed using in vitro experiments in which the EPSPS gene from bee gut bacteria was cloned into Escherichia coli. All strains of the core bee gut species, Snodgrassella alvi, encode a sensitive class I EPSPS, and reduction in S. alvi levels was a consistent experimental result. However, some S. alvi strains appear to possess an alternative mechanism of glyphosate resistance. Thus, exposure of bees to glyphosate can perturb their beneficial gut microbiota, potentially affecting bee health and their effectiveness as pollinators.

232wonderY
Sept. 25, 2018, 10:25 am

>22 margd: Fascinating. We are all our guts, eh?

25margd
Nov. 26, 2018, 3:05 am

Dessication--routine, preharvest treatment of grains & soybeans with Roundup/glyphosate--a practice that's added even more pesticide to our food, possibly affecting human microbiome.

Herbicide Is What’s for Dinner: How the biggest farming practice you’ve never heard of is changing your food.
Miranda Hart (microbial ecologist and professor at the University of British Columbia) | November 22, 2018

...References

1. Landrigan, P.J. & Belpoggi, F. The need for independent research on the health effects of glyphosate-based herbicides. Environmental Health 17, 51 (2018).

2. Benbrook, C.M. Trends in glyphosate herbicide use in the United States and globally. Environmental Sciences Europe 28, 3 (2016).

3. Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Safeguarding with Science: Glyphosate Testing in 2015-2016.

4. CBC News Staff. Nearly a third of food samples in CFIA testing contain glyphosate residues. www.cbc.ca (2017).

5. Copley, C. German beer purity in question after environment group finds weed-killer traces. Reuters (2016).

6. Motta, E.V.S., Raymann, K., & Moran, N.A. Glyphosate perturbs the gut microbiota of honey bees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, 10305-10310 (2018).

http://nautil.us/issue/66/clockwork/herbicide-is-whats-for-dinner

26Yamanekotei
Mrz. 11, 2019, 12:12 pm

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rorymackean/tertill-the-solar-powered-weedi...

Just saw this on FB. A bit sidetracked to the thread, but thought worth looking in.

272wonderY
Mrz. 28, 2019, 8:37 am

I wonder if Bayer calculated this eventuality in their purchase of Monsanto recently.

Jury Awards $80 Million in Damages in Roundup Cancer Case

A jury in San Francisco federal court awarded compensatory damages of $5.3 million and punitive damages of $75 million to a 70-year-old California man who became ill after spraying the herbicide on his property for decades. Wednesday’s verdict follows a similar decision by a state court jury last summer, and comes as a third trial over Roundup is under way in Oakland, California.

The jury found that there’s a defect in Roundup, that Bayer failed to warn of the product’s risks and that the company was negligent.

28MaureenRoy
Bearbeitet: Apr. 14, 2019, 12:58 pm

April 14, 2019: Preliminary use of glyphosate is apparently allowed in massive new organically certified US blueberry growing operations:

https://mailchi.mp/realorganicproject/usda-organic-now-allows-herbicides?fbclid=...

New smaller varieties of blueberry plants can be grown in greenhouses. Pollination can occur by taking a small artist's brush and exchanging pollen by hand between each of the plants.

My family and I avoid hydroponically grown produce, whether or not it is organically certified.

292wonderY
Mai 15, 2019, 10:03 am

>27 2wonderY: That Oakland case allowed $2 billion in punitive damages.

Juror to Monsanto lawyer: If Roundup is safe, you drink it

30margd
Mai 15, 2019, 10:22 am

Pesticides are all over the St. Lawrence River — many at levels that hurt fish and invertebrates

Scientists tested the river system and found nearly one-third of the samples had neonicotinoid pesticides at levels higher than the threshold to protect aquatic creatures. Glyphosate and atrazine were in more than 80% of samples.
Brian Bienkowski | May 1, 2019

https://www.ehn.org/pesticides-are-all-over-the-st-lawrence-river-many-at-levels...
_______________________________________________________________________

* Montiel-León JM et al. 2019. Widespread occurrence and spatial distribution of glyphosate, atrazine, and neonicotinoids pesticides in the St. Lawrence and tributary rivers. Environ Pollut. 2019 Apr 2;250:29-39. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.03.125. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749119301721

Highlights

• Herbicides and insecticides were investigated in the St. Lawrence River & tributaries.
• Glyphosate (84%), atrazine (82%), and thiamethoxam (59%) were recurrently detected.
• Cross-section profiles allowed to match specific contaminants with water masses.
• 31% of surface water samples exceeded the criterion for neonicotinoids (8.3 ng L−1).
• Chemical loads of atrazine were estimated at 250–350 kg/month for July 2017.

Abstract
The occurrence and spatial distribution of selected pesticides were investigated along a 200-km reach of the St. Lawrence River (SLR) and tributaries in Quebec, Canada. Surface water samples (n = 68) were collected in the summer 2017 and analyzed for glyphosate, atrazine (ATZ), 8 systemic insecticides (acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, fipronil, imidacloprid, nitenpyram, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam) and some metabolites. Overall, 99% of the surface water samples were positive to at least one of the targeted pesticides. The most recurrent compounds were glyphosate (detection frequency: 84%), ATZ (82%), thiamethoxam (59%), desethylatrazine (DEA: 47%), and clothianidin (46%). Glyphosate displayed variable levels (4-3,000 ng L-1), with higher concentrations in south tributaries (e.g., Nicolet and Yamaska). In positive samples, the sum of ATZ and DEA varied between 5 and 860 ng L-1, and the sum of 6 priority neonicotinoids between 1.5 and 115 ng L-1. From Repentigny to the Sorel Islands, the spatial distribution of pesticides within the St. Lawrence River was governed by the different upstream sources (i.e., Great Lakes vs. Ottawa River) due to the limited mixing of the different water masses. Cross-sectional patterns revealed higher concentrations of glyphosate and neonicotinoids in the north portions of transects, while the middle and south portions showed higher levels of atrazine. In Lake St. Pierre and further downstream, cross-sections revealed higher levels of the targeted pesticides near the southern portions of the SLR. This may be due to the higher contributions from south shore tributaries impacted by major agricultural areas, compared to north shore tributaries with forest land and less cropland use. Surface water samples were compliant with guidelines for the protection of aquatic life (chronic effects) for glyphosate and atrazine. However, 31% of the samples were found to surpass the guideline value of 8.3 ng L-1 for the sum of six priority neonicotinoids.

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Wikipedia:

Atrazine is a herbicide of the triazine class.. Atrazine is used to prevent pre- and postemergence broadleaf weeds in crops such as maize (corn) and sugarcane and on turf, such as golf courses and residential lawns. It is one of the most widely used herbicides in US and Australian agriculture.

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide and crop desiccant. It is an organophosphorus compound, specifically a phosphonate, which acts by inhibiting the plant enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase. It is used to kill weeds, especially annual broadleaf weeds and grasses that compete with crops. (Roundup...)

Neonicotinoids are a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine. In the 1980s Shell and in the 1990s Bayer started work on their development. The neonicotinoid family includes acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, nitenpyram, nithiazine, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam. (Seed coatings, bees...)

312wonderY
Feb. 6, 10:55 pm

EU scraps plans to halve pesticide use among other concessions

Europe farmers protests: EU scraps plans to halve pesticide use https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68218907

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