It’s not just the bees and their ilk. Neonicotinoid insecticides were known to harm important pollinators, and now a major report says they are killing insects, microbes, lizards, earthworms, birds and even coastal shellfish.
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”.
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