Humans

Along with the wide use of pesticides in the world, the concerns over their health impacts are rapidly growing. There is a huge body of evidence on the relation between exposure to pesticides and elevated rate of chronic diseases such as different types of cancers, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson, Alzheimer, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), birth defects, and reproductive disorders. There is also circumstantial evidence on the association of exposure to pesticides with some other chronic diseases like respiratory problems, particularly asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease such as atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease, chronic nephropathies, autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematous and rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and aging.

The Pesticide Action Network has accused the German chemicals company BASF of buying credibility for industry views within academia, after one of its employee was offered a professorship at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. BASF employee Bernhard van Ravenzwaay will officially get a professor seat at the Dutch agricultural university in exchange for BASF funding, PAN Europe said in statement issued on Thursday (2 May). The environmental organisation said van Ravenzwaay has a track record of studies published with a favourable outcome for the chemical industry, suggesting his university research will be biased. By acquiring a professorship in university, BASF might try to buy credibility for the views of industry. Recently Van Ravenzwaay started defending industry-babies such as TTC (Threshold of Toxicological Concern), which substitutes (expensive) experimental studies by statistics, PAN Europe claimed.

Die Bio-Zahlen klingen nach organischem Wachstum: Seit 2008 stieg die Menge verkaufter Bio-Lebensmittel in Österreich um 18 Prozent, bezogen auf den Verkaufswert waren es sogar 36 Prozent. Nicht zuletzt, weil, angefangen von Diskontern wie Hofer, der Lebensmittelhandel stark auf eigene Bio-Marken setzt. Doch obwohl mittlerweile rund 20 Prozent der heimischen Flächen biologisch bewirtschaftet werden, sind es nur rund sieben Prozent aller Frischelebensmittel, die als Bio-Qualität verkauft werden (bei Eiern 18 Prozent, Milchprodukte und Gemüse rund 10 Prozent). Zumal bei Fleisch und Wurst (lediglich 4 bzw. 2 Prozent) der meist deutlich höhere Preis noch abschreckt. "Dabei wäre doppelt so viel Bio in der Produktion möglich", sprich 40 Prozent der Fläche, glaubt Herbert Kain, Obmann von Bio Ernte Steiermark. "Doch leider werden Mehraufwand und Minderertrag zu schlecht abgegolten, sodass viele Bio-Bauern finanziell schlechter aussteigen als andere." Darum fordern Bio-Verbände, im Hinblick auf die Neuverteilung der Agrar-Fördergelder ab 2014, "historische Ungerechtigkeiten zu beseitigen und jetzt die ökologische Grünlandwirtschaft zu forcieren", erläutert Kain. Wenn das Bio-Lebensmittel nicht empfindlich teurer als andere Ware sein soll, sei eine gezielte Umlenkung der öffentlichen Mittel für öffentliche Leistungen wichtig. "Nicht mehr Wachstum um jeden Preis gehört gefördert", so Irmi Salzer von der Kleinbauernvertretung ÖBV, "die geplanten Investitionsförderungen sollte es nur für Bauern geben, die auch gezielt in Tierschutz und Ökologisierung investieren."

Neonicotinoid is a recently developed insecticide with worldwide use that has been increasing. It acts as a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist. Chloropyridinyl neonicotinoid is a subgroup of neonicotinoid, and are commercially available as imidacloprid, nitenpyram, acetamiprid, and thiadoprid. The maximum residue limits of acetamiprid for fruits and tea leaves are high in Japan, e.g. 5 ppm for grapes and 30 ppm for tea leaves. 6-chloronicotinic acid (6 CNA) is a common metabolite in animals after exposure to chloropyridinyl neonicotinoids, but has not yet been detected in human urine. "Spot" urine samples on the first visit and after were collected from eleven patients 6-52 years-old, who visited X-clinic from August to December in 2008, within 24 hours after symptom onset with unknown origin. Urinary 6 CNA was detected in six out of the eleven patients (IC positive group), by ion chromatography and identified in twenty specimens of these six patients by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS), maximum 84.8 microg/L from the first visit to the 20th visit. The sensitivity of ion chromatography for LC/MS was 45%, and the specificity was 100%. The IC positive group showed headache, general fatigue, finger tremor, and short time memory disturbance in 100%, fever (> 37.0 C), cough, palpitation, chest pain, stomachache, myalgia/muscle spasm/muscle weakness in 83%, heart rate abnormality (sinus tachycardia, sinus bradycardia, or intermittent WPW syndrome) in 83%, high domestic fruits intake > 500 g/day) in 83%, high tea beverage intake (>500 ml./day) in 66%. Five patients who were not among the IC positive group showed<80%, <40%, 60%, 60%, 20%, respectively. The patients gradually recovered through supportive therapy and the restriction of fruits and tea intake within several days to two months. In conclusion, urinary 6-chloronicotinic acid, a common metabolite of chloropyridinyl neonicotinoid insecticide, was detected for the first time, from six patients with subacute nicotinic symptoms.

Wat heeft Zutphen Bijenstad tot nu toe bereikt? In 2010 en 2011 zijn ruim 1500 zakjes zaad verkocht onder het motto ‘Help de bij in de stad’ en 'Alle bee(s)tjes helpen'. In 2012 deden we mee met de campagne 'Bijen houden van biologisch' en kregen we 2000 gratis zakjes biologisch zaad die via winkels zijn verspreid. In september 2010 wonnen we de Zutphense Toekomstprijs. In maart 2011 is het Bijenlint officieel gestart. In samenwerking met de gemeente zijn vier projecten gestart, waarna anderen volgden. In september 2012 is Zutphen Bijenstad een stichting geworden en gaat de doelstelling verder implementeren. De stichting heeft de ANBI status. Henk Tennekes gaf op het BIJENfeest van 27 april 2013 aan de Marsweg 115 in Zutphen een voordracht over de risico's van neonicotinoide insecticiden voor mens en milieu. De voordracht is bijgevoegd.

In February 2012, EFSA has published an own-initiative opinion on a concept called “Threshold for Toxicological Concern” (TTC). This concept has been heavily promoted by industry, notably the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), a food and biotech lobby group. NGOs including Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe are worried about the impacts of EFSA endorsing this concept, because it would allow for misleading ‘safe levels of exposure’ for many chemicals which have not been fully tested for toxicity (report attached). It now appears that numerous experts on EFSA’s TTC working group have conflicts of interest with the same industry pushing for the TTC approach.

The goal of this study was to examine the association between urinary concentrations of dialkyl phosphate metabolites of organophosphates and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children 8 to 15 years of age. Cross sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2000–2004) were available for 1139 children, who were representative of the general US population. One hundred nineteen children met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. Children with higher urinary dialkyl phosphate concentrations, especially dimethyl alkylphosphate (DMAP) concentrations, were more likely to be diagnosed as having ADHD. A 10-fold increase in DMAP concentration was associated with an odds ratio of 1.55 (95% confidence interval: 1.14–2.10), with adjustment for gender, age, race/ethnicity, poverty/income ratio, fasting duration, and urinary creatinine concentration. For the most-commonly detected DMAP metabolite, dimethyl thiophosphate, children with levels higher than the median of detectable concentrations had twice the odds of ADHD (adjusted odds ratio: 1.93 [95% confidence interval: 1.23–3.02]), compared with children with undetectable levels. These findings support the hypothesis that organophosphate exposure, at levels common among US children, may contribute to ADHD prevalence.

This video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaqPNmk1kZY&feature=share lasts 57.36 minutes. It shows the devastating effects of neonicotinoids in Japan, where they were introduced as foliar treatments on rice, fruit and vegetables in the 1990s to replace organophosphates. Because of the degree of permissiveness of Japan's Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) - compared to the EU and even to the USA (Cf. 38 minutes into the document) - high levels of exposure were inflicted on unsuspecting communities. As hives emptied or were surrounded with a thick carpet of dead honeybees, apiarists and bee scientists soon realised something very serious was amiss. The victims' stoicism, many of them in an advanced state of culture shock, is very moving. Every piece of testimony merits our attention. Of special interest (46 minutes into the document) are observations by neuroscientist Yoichiro Kuroda on the human blood-brain barrier in adults, foetuses and neonates.

Na het succes van vorig jaar organiseren Filmhuis De Keizer en Slow Food IJsselvallei op zondag 12 mei a.s. het 2e slow food film festival deventer. Met bijzondere films en tussendoor genieten van volop Lekker, Puur en Eerlijk eten en drinken. De films brachten heel verschillende kanten van ons ‘food’ in beeld: de achtergronden en bedreigingen van onze voedselvoorziening, de hartstocht voor voedingsproducten en het gastronomisch genieten. Van 17:15 - 17.45 werd de film More than Honey ingeleid door dr ir Henk Tennekes, toxicoloog en pleitbezorger voor een verbod op toepassing van insecticiden die bijenvolkeren en insecten in het algemeen bedreigen. De voordracht is bijgevoegd.