Insecticides

The widespread prophylactic usage of neonicotinoid insecticides has a clear impact on non-target organisms. However, the possible effects of long-term exposure on soil-dwelling organisms are still poorly understood especially for social insects with long-living queens. Here, we show that effects of chronic exposure to the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam on black garden ant colonies, Lasius niger, become visible before the second overwintering.

The Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) colony at Beddington Farmlands – which used to be one of the biggest in England – is all but lost following a shocking decline of the species at the London site, with analysis in the Beddington Farmlands 2019 Bird and Wildlife Report suggesting failed habitat management as the key factor.

Rome authorities continue to investigate the cause behind the mysterious death of hundreds of fish in the city's river Tiber on 30 May. Initial tests have proved inconclusive and further testing is underway, however police do not believe the phenomenon relates to deliberate illegal dumping of toxic material into the river. The capital's environment department is however working on the theory that the mass death of the fish relates to insecticides used in corn crops, abundant in farms north of Rome, reports online newspaper RomaToday.

Insect populations are plummeting across the world because of industrial farming and heavy pesticide use, and this decline is a threat to food production, warned a new report released on Tuesday (9 June 2020). The ‘Insect Atlas’ is a comprehensive new global review of trends in insect populations, their relationship with agriculture, and what needs to be done to ameliorate it. It was published by the Green think tank Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in conjunction with environmental campaigns group Friends of the Earth Europe.

Here we demonstrate for the frst time that field-realistic concentrations of the commonly used neonicotinoid insecticide thiacloprid can severely affect the immunocompetence of Osmia bicornis. In detail, males exposed to thiacloprid solutions of 200 and 555µg/kg showed a reduction in hemocyte density. Moreover, functional aspects of the immune defence - the antimicrobial activity of the hemolymph - were impaired in males. In females, however, only a concentration of 555µg/kg elicited similar immunosuppressive efects.

Die EFSA hat die Ergebnisse ihrer beiden Pilotbewertungen zu den Risiken für den Menschen veröffentlicht, die von den Rückständen verschiedener Pestizide in Lebensmitteln ausgehen. Die Bewertungen - von denen sich die eine mit chronischen Wirkungen auf das Schilddrüsensystem und die andere mit akuten Wirkungen auf das Nervensystem befasst - bilden den Abschluss einer mehrjährigen Zusammenarbeit zwischen der EFSA und dem niederländischen nationalen Institut für die öffentliche Gesundheit und die Umwelt (RIVM).