Here is some great news for the New Year! Montreal, Canada is banning neuro-toxic neonicotinoids that have been linked to bee colony deaths, in order to save our pollinators, and our food supply. [1]
Neonicotinoids (neonics) are a class of nicotine-based pesticides that are sprayed everywhere. You will find over fifty varieties of seeds which grow into valuable fruits and vegetables sprayed by neonics. You’ll find neonics sprayed on golf courses, and football fields.
Though Montreal had limited the use of this debilitating class of pesticides in the past, it has now banned them completely due to mounting evidence that the chemicals cause disorientation, severe reproductive problems in the queen, and even early death in bee colonies. [2] [3]
The new total prohibition will likely make a dramatic impact on bee health.
“This tighter control of pesticides will, among other things, allow us to better protect bees and other pollinators,” Réal Ménard, Montreal’s executive committee member responsible for the environment, said in a news release.
This is also a move for tighter control overall for pesticide use within Quebec. Chemicals that have already been banned in Europe and that have been identified as high risk, such as Atrazine (made by biotech giant Syngenta) will be added to the list for tighter controls.
Other communities, cities, and even department stores have also taken action against neonicotinoids in light of the likely-dangers the chemicals pose on the pollinators and food supply at large.
Sources:
[1] CBC.ca/1.3360458
[2] CBC.ca/1.2700266
[3] Nature
Another lie by Chrissy. They have not been linked to bee deaths and to ban these pesticides is giving in to bad science.
Don’t you sell the stuff?
Relying on the brochures and salesman’s information isn’t bad science?
Unless you have a degree in environmental sciences?
Let’s see, Europe banned them and they still have colony collapse so that kinda throws a wrench into her theory.
Let’s see,
Your not in Europe and got that information from the mainstream media, and you are still selling the stuff.
Kinda makes anything you have to say on the topic a conflict of interests, and you haven’t shown proof of any scientific degree.
You cares where it is you moron. Chrissy specifically said that bee deaths are tied to this group of insecticides or are you so stupid to think that it only applies to Montreal?
Since bees are insects and your implying that these insecticides won’t kill bees, you must be representing the moron community in full.
I’m old school.
Since my second post here entices you to call me a moron, I’ll assume that is the standard you wish to communicate by.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
No Europe did not ban them they just restricted their use to certain crops attractive to bees. Italy implemented partial bans in 2008 and bee colonies have rebounded. You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!
“Yet, as activists continue to campaign to get neonics banned, news from Europe, where a two-year moratorium went into effect last year, suggests that farmers are unable to control pests without them. Partly in desperation, they are replacing neonics with pesticides that are older, less effective and demonstrably more harmful to humans and social insects, and farm yields are dropping.”
“But there is no bee crisis, say most mainstream entomologists. Globally, beehive counts have increased by 45 percent in the last 50 years, according to a United Nations report. Neonics are widely used in Australia were there have been no mass bee deaths, and in Western Canada, where bees are thriving.”
From Pests invade Europe after neonicotinoids ban, with no benefit to bee health
If they ever are proven to be the cause of bee declines I will be more than happy to see them go.
This is all nonsense and you know it! What is a mainstream entomologists? Is it something like the mainstream media? Like I said there are plenty of peer reviewed studies linking these Neurotoxins to bee declines.
1.Sebastien, C. Kessler, Erin Jo Tiedeken, Kerry L Simcock, Sophie Derveau, etc. Bees prefer foods containing neonicotinoid pesticides. Nature Magazine April 22, 2015.
2.Maj Rundlof, Georg K.S. Andersson, Riccardo Bommaraco, Ingemar Fries, Veronica Henderstrom, Lina Herbertsson etc. Seed coating wih a neonicotinoid insecticide negatively affects wild bees. Nature Magazine, April 22, 2015
3.Ecosystems services, agriculture and neonicotinoids. European Academies Science Advisory Council. April, 2015
4.Jacob R. Pecenka, Jonathan G. Lundgren. Non-target effects of clothianidin on monarch butterflies. The Science of Nature, April 2015
5.Margaret R. Douglas and John F. Tooker. Large-Scale Deployment of Seed Treatments Has Driven Rapid Increase in Use of Neonicotinoid Insecticides and Preemptive Pest Management in U.S. Field Crops Environmental Science & Technology
DOI: 10.1021/es506141g
6.Goulson D. (2015) Neonicotinoids impact bumblebee colony fitness in the field; a reanalysis of the UK’s Food & Environment Research Agency 2012 experiment. PeerJ 3:e854 https://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.854
7.A. Schaafsma, V. Limay-Rios, T. Baute, J. Smith, Y Xue. Neonicotinoid insecticide residues in surface water and soil associated with commercial maize (corn) fields in Southwestern Ontario. Feb. 24, 2015.
8.Christopher A Mullin, Jing Chen, Julie D. Fine, Maryann T. Frazier, James L, Frazier. The formulation makes the honey bee poison. Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology, January 2015.
9.Christoper Moffet, Joao Goncalves Pacheco, Sheila Sharp, Andrew Sampson, Karen Bolan, Jeffrey Huang, Stephen Buckland, Christopher N. Connolley.Chronic exposure to neonicotinoids increases neuronal vulnerability to mitochrondrial dysfunction in the bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) The FASEB Journal, January 2015
10.Oliver Samson-Robert, Genevieve Labrie, Madeleine Chagnon, Valerie Fournier:Neonicotinoid-contaminated puddles of water represent a risk of intoxication for honey bees. PlosOne Dec. 1, 2014
11.Margaret R. Douglas, Jason R. Rohr and John F. Tooker, “Neonicotinoid insecticide travels through a soil food chain, disrupting biological control of non-target pests and decreasing soya bean yield. Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University Journal of Applied Ecology, 2015
12.Christy A. Morrissey, Pierre Mineau, James H. Devries, Francisco Sanchez-Bayo, Matthias Liess, Michael C. Cavallaro, Karsten Liber. Neonicotinoid contamination of global surface waters and associate risk to aquatic invertebrates: A review. Environment International Journal 2014
In Australia it’s mostly Canola; the bees are brought in for 2 to 3 weeks for pollination and then are moved out to forage on native vegetation which gives them a chance to detox. Most managed beehives in Australia forage on native vegetation. The same thing is going on in western Canada. Corn uses 2 to 4 times more of the Neonicotinoid pesticide than Canola per acre. Leave your hives near Neonicotinoid treated corn and soybean fields year round and it’s a whole different story. As a matter of fact that’s how Bayer gets away with those flawed studies set a few hives next to a couple of acres of Canola for 10 to 15 days and then move them out to a Neonic free zone to detox and there is your happy data. This flawed argument you just described is better known as the Australian distraction. Not sure what a mainstream entomologists is but if it’s anything like the mainstream media you should ignore it.
Yes a moron like you would leave them near corn and soybeans. They would starve to death as neither would produce enough food for them. Thanks for showing your stupidity again moron. God your dumb, but the sad part is most aren’t smart enough to realize the difference.
When you can’t dispute the facts thrown in your face you start name calling its awesome I love it!
The simple truth is that corn and beans don’t need bees and they don’t produce the amount of pollen necessary to keep a hive alive by themselves. Don’t take my word for it ask a beekeeper.
That’s funny I never said Corn or Soy needs bees for pollination or Corn pollen is good for bees but if your property happens to be right next to a Corn or Soy field with seeds that have been treated with these Nerve poisons and you have hives there you’re going to have problems especially during planting time.
Maybe you should get out more. Here corn, soybeans, watermelons, canteloups, and pumpkins grow side by side and bee keepers report no problems. As far as you not mentioning it is true, but you commented on a conversation that did.
There are plenty of studies linking these nerve poisons to bee declines quit pretending to be ignorant!
Wow the world’s top scientists can’t seem to be able to come to that conclusion, but wait you and Chrissy have no problem doing so!! LOL.
WOW ! How ignorant can you get ? I was going to say “you probably didn’t even read past the 1st paragraph” but THE 1ST WORD is Montreal ! She’s not the one saying it. It is WIDELY accepted now and referenced. You must want a dead planet with your big bank account of chemical profits.
Yes it is widely accepted by people like Chrissy that wants you to be afraid of your own shadow.
Who is this guy GMO Roberts. He must eat a lot of GMOs. His brain seems to be swollen. Eat another one pal.
Eat them daily and have for years with zero of the horror stories Chrissy would have you believe.
Spraying crop-killing pesticides is like opening fire at people of all
ages and gender, this puts civilian lives
at risk and hurts livelihoods also.