Beleid en debat

Het Zwitserse agroconcern Syngenta heeft over het eerste half jaar van 2013 een nettowinst gerealiseerd van 1,41 miljard dollar. Dat is 5% minder dan over de eerste 6 maanden van 2012. De omzet nam met 2% toe tot 8,4 miljard dollar. Het operationele resultaat EBITDA steeg met 9% tot 2,2 miljard dollar en de operationele marge lag op 26,0%. In de eerste helft van 2012 bedroeg de marge 24,9%. Voor de tweede helft van 2013 rekent Syngenta op meer groei van de omzet, vanwege de vooruitzichten in Latijns Amerika, Azië en de Pacific. De onderneming blijft inzetten op een gemiddelde EBITDA-marge tussen 22 en 24% in 2015.

De Europese Commissie vroeg de EFSA, het Europese voedselagentschap, om de toelatingsprocedures van middelen te beoordelen. Aanleiding daarvoor is de bijensterfte en het tijdelijke verbod van vier neonicotinoïden. De Efsa concludeert dat er gaten zitten in de toelatingsstudies van de industrie betreffende bijen. Dit geldt niet alleen voor neonicotinoïden, maar voor alle middelen, dus insecticiden maar ook herbiciden en fungiciden. De Efsa heeft een concept-protocol met eisen opgesteld, waar toekomstige toelatingen aan moeten voldoen. Als de Commissie het concept-protocol aanneemt gaat dit gelden voor alle lidstaten. De eisen om een middel toegelaten te krijgen, worden dan flink strenger. Er worden voor een toelating dan meer onderzoeksresultaten gevraagd. Probleem is dat de onderzoekslaboratoria geen capaciteit over hebben en dat voor een aantal zaken nog geen testmethoden is. Herregistratie van middelen wordt dan een flinke dobber. Mogelijk dat na de neonicotinioïden ook diverse pyrethroïden sneuvelen vanwege aanvullende bijenstudies. Het middelenpakket tegen insecten wordt dan schraal. De chemische industrie lobbyt om de scherpe kantjes van het concept-protocol er af te krijgen. Maar Bayer Cropscience verwacht niet dat de toelatingseisen afgezwakt worden, hooguit later ingevoerd. In een reactie schrijft de toxicoloog Henk Tennekes dat de industrie nu een koekje van eigen deeg krijgt. Het voor de verdediging van de neonicotinoide insecticiden als onontbeerlijk gedeclareerde maar bijna onbetaalbare veldonderzoek wordt nu geheel onnodig een onderdeel van de toelatingsprocedures voor bestrijdingsmiddelen. De industrie zal een zware dobber krijgen aan de nieuwe toelatingseisen te voldoen, aldus Tennekes.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the keystone of the European Union’s food and feed safety risk assessment. Indeed, EFSA provides scientific advice to risks managers for the safety of food in the EU and a high level of protection for food-producing animals, including bees, their ecosystem services, such as crop pollination and honey production. The large bee losses reported worldwide over the last decades have stimulated a lot of research on the monitoring of bees, mainly Apis bees (honeybees), and their stressors (e.g. pathological, agrochemicals, environmental, nutritional, etc.), but principally on pathogens. During this process, extensive datasets have been generated and collated on honeybee losses that have been linked to diseases, pests and pathogens in Europe and North America. However, given the importance of all bee pollinators - not only honeybees ­- and the universally agreed multifactorial origin of bee losses, such an approach seems too limited and may fail in meeting the global protection goals of ensuring bee diversity, crop pollination and honey production.

A study carried out by the Italian National Research Council revealed the important function of some microorganisms able to metabolize toxic elements employed in agriculture, reclaiming soil and water.
A group of Italian researchers identified a bacterial strain able to clear soil from pesticide residues. This strain has been isolated from pesticide-treated soil samples. It is a natural occurring bacteria: the Rhodococcus wratislaviensis, able to mineralize herbicide such as terbuthylazine, which is one of the most common pesticide worldwide. Unfortunately, these toxic substances tend to persist in the environment and their use in agriculture in one of the most common cause of soil and water contamination. The surveys carried out revealed the presence of these microorganisms in pesticide-treated soil, then it can be assumed that this bacterial strain naturally developed this capacity to suit to the environment. In other words, these bacteria transform the toxic elements presence in an advantage by the production of enzymes able to mineralize these compounds, which are transformed into nutrients for their growth. The wide diversity of microbial metabolism makes microorganisms an innovative and sustainable solution for agricultural problems. In other words, they represent a new approach to farm management, from pest control to water management and soil fertility.

De Indiase politie heeft het hoofd van de school in Bihar waar vorige week 23 kinderen overleden nadat zij vergiftigde schoolmaaltijden aten opgepakt, meldt de BBC. Meena Devi, de directrice van de school, gaf zichzelf vandaag aan bij de politie. Het drama vond plaats in Masrakh, een dorpje in het noordoostelijke Bihar, de armste deelstaat van India. De slachtoffers waren bijna allemaal tussen de vier en tien jaar oud. Na het eten van een gratis maaltijd bestaande uit rijst en bonen en bereid in mosterdolie, werden in totaal 47 schoolkinderen ziek, aldus de BBC. Daarop kwam het op verschillende plekken in de deelstaat tot geweldsuitbarstingen tegen de regering, die verantwoordelijk is voor de kwaliteit van de maaltijden. Politiejeeps werden in brand gestoken en ruiten van overheidsgebouwen ingegooid.

A new study, published in the latest Environmental Pollution journal, has found agricultural chemical residues in the sediments of South Island streams. The authors linked their findings to previous studies that found residues in pine tree needles and mountain air. One pesticide, chlorpyrifos was found in 87% of samples of waterway sediments. These pesticides are not used by organic producers. “We need to urgently improve the environmental record of our agricultural sector so that we can live up to our international brand of producers of clean safe food,” said Green Party agriculture spokesperson Steffan Browning. “The Environmental Protection Authority is effectively the ‘Chemical Promotions Authority’ and is too freely allowing these pesticides through.

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey identified 10 distinct chemicals in the frogs’ tissues, including residues of DDT, an insecticide that’s been banned for more than 40 years. While the new study, published Thursday in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, found only trace amounts of the agricultural chemicals, researchers say that’s almost beside the point: The mere fact that the pesticides had made their way to distant sites in national parks and other public lands was their primary concern. Amphibians are considered excellent indicators of ecosystem health due to their sensitivity to environmental change. And while they’re not as charismatic as polar bears,“they are a part of the food web,” said study leader Kelly Smalling, a research hydrologist who monitors pesticides in amphibians for the U.S. Geological Survey. A recent study of frogs in the U.S. showed that even populations of species thought to be doing well are disappearing at a rate of almost 3% per year. They’re so fragile that Congress created the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative in 2000 to keep track of the vulnerable animals.

Dr Helen Thompson will leave the government's Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) to join Syngenta on 1 September. Thompson led a field trial of the effect of neonicotinoids – the world's most widely used insecticides – on bees, which was fast-tracked and frequently cited by ministers – although the UK subsequently failed to block a two-year ban in Europe on the pesticides after 15 other EU nations voted in favour. "Government policy should be informed by unbiased and disinterested scientific research," said Joan Walley MP, chair of the environmental audit committee, whose report in April accused the environment secretary Owen Paterson's department of "extraordinary complacency" over bees and pesticides. "This principle is undermined if the government research agency is too close to the pesticides industry and if scientists are zigzagging between the two." A Fera spokeswoman said: "Dr Thompson's move is a reflection of her expertise and international reputation within the scientific community. There is no conflict of interest. There are very specific rules for civil servants governing the acceptance of appointments outside the civil service."

Trichomonas gallinae is an emerging pathogen in wild birds, linked to recent declines in finch (Fringillidae) populations across Europe. Globally, the main hosts for this parasite are species of Columbidae (doves and pigeons); here we carry out the first investigation into the presence and incidence of Trichomonas in four species of Columbidae in the UK, through live sampling of wild-caught birds and subsequent PCR. We report the first known UK cases of Trichomonas infection in 86% of European Turtle Doves Streptopelia turtur sampled, along with 86% of Eurasian Collared Doves Streptopelia decaocto, 47% of Woodpigeons Columba palumbus and 40% of Stock Doves Columba oenas. Birds were more likely to be infected if the farm provided supplementary food for gamebirds. We found three strains of T. gallinae and one strain clustering within the Trichomonas tenax clade, not previously associated with avian hosts in the UK. One T. gallinae strain was identical at the ITS/5.8S/ITS2 ribosomal region to that responsible for the finch trichomonosis epizootic. We highlight the importance of increasing our knowledge of the diversity and ecological implications of Trichomonas parasites in order further to understand the sub-clinical impacts of parasite infection.

This report, co-authored by international scientists and researchers, reveals that industry's own studies (including one commissioned by Monsanto) showed as long ago as the 1980s that Roundup's active ingredient glyphosate causes birth defects in laboratory animals.The facts are these:1. Industry has known from its own studies since the 1980s that glyphosate causes malformations in experimental animals at high doses;2. Industry has known since 1993 that these effects also occur at lower and mid doses; 3. The German government has known since at least 1998 that glyphosate causes malformations; 4. The EU Commission's expert scientific review panel knew in 1999 that glyphosate causes malformations; 5. The EU Commission has known since 2002 that glyphosate causes malformations. This was the year it signed off on the current approval of glyphosate. But this information was not made public. On the contrary, the pesticide industry and Europe's regulators have jointly misled the public with claims that glyphosate is safe. As a result, Roundup is used by home gardeners and local authorities on roadsides, in school grounds, and in other public areas, as well as in farmers' fields. As recently as 2010, the German Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, BVL, told the Commission there was "no evidence of teratogenicity" (ability to cause birth defects) for glyphosate.