Thanks for sharing this Rhys, I’ve been banging on about neonics polluting our rivers for several years, I posted the following on here on the 16th Feb:
I find it amazing that the impacts of water-soluble neonicotinoids (used as a prophylatic pesticide) were ignored by all almost everyone. It took a catastrophic collapse of bee populations to make everyone in this country sit up and take notice.
I posted the following on this site two years ago:
Many of you may be aware of the furore regarding the use of Neonicotinoid seed dressings which have been linked to a range of harmful environmental impacts, notably honey-bee colony collapse disorder. Thanks to the EU most of these products were banned in 2013, although no thanks to our own Govt. who revealed itself to be in the unashamedly in the pockets of the agri-chemical industry and were extremely vociferous in their opposition to the ban.
Neonicotinoids (Neonics) are a class of neuro-active insecticides, which include acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, nitenpyram, nithiazine, thiacloprid & thiamethoxam. Neonicotinoid are relatively new onto the scene, some first became commercially available in the late 90's, others in early 2000s. Since their introduction the products became very popular, and before the ban, neonics were applied to approximately 35% of the arable land in the UK, mainly oilseed rape and winter wheat.
Remarkably, given that neonics are water soluble and therefore readily leach into watercourses, no long-term systematic study has ever been carried out to determine their impact - and surprise surprise, scientists are now beginning to discover just how polluting neonics are.
Door, stable, horse, bolted.
What ever happened to the 'Precautionary Principle'?
Take this:
“There is so much evidence, going far beyond bees," Prof Dave Goulson from the University of Sussex told BBC News.
"They accumulate in soils, they are commonly turning up in waterways at levels that exceed the lethal dose for things that live in streams.
"It is impossible to deny that these things are having major environmental impacts.". BBC News - Widespread impacts of neonicotinoids 'impossible to deny'
And this:
"Peer-reviewed research, published in the leading journal Nature this Wednesday, has revealed data from the Netherlands showing that bird populations fell most sharply in those areas where neonicotinoid pollution was highest. Starlings, tree sparrows and swallows were among the most affected.
At least 95% of neonicotinoids applied to crops ends up in the wider environment, killing the insects the birds rely on for food, particularly when raising chicks.
The researchers, led by Hans de Kroon, an ecologist at Radboud University, in the Netherlands, examined other possible reasons for the bird declines seen during the study period of 2003 to 2010, including intensification of farming. But high pollution by a neonicotinoid known as imidacloprid was by far the largest factor.
“It is very surprising and very disturbing,†de Kroon said. Water pollution levels of just 20 nanograms of neonicotinoid per litre led to a 30% fall in bird numbers over 10 years, but some water had contamination levels 50 times higher. “That is why it is so disturbing – there is an incredible amount of imidacloprid in the water,†he said. “And it is not likely these effects will be restricted to birds.â€"
Neonicotinoids linked to recent fall in farmland bird numbers | Environment | The Guardian
Since then more and more evidence is being is being gathered on the impacts - I suspect we look back at the neonics in the same way we now view the impacts of DDT.
But be aware, the NFU and ag-chem industry are still lobbying to have them reintroduced. Former Defra Minister (therefore EA boss), and Tory MP Owen Paterson, who tried his best to block the neonics ban whilst he was the Defra Minister, is one of the chief protagonists.
Coincidentally, Owen Paterson's brother in law Matt Ridley (yes the man who broke Northern Rock) works for Syngenta (THE leading neonics manufacturer) as a Govt. lobbyist...
