neonicotinoids

Pesticides 101: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Pesticides 101: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Pesticides have been used, in one way or another, for thousands of years to protect crops against invasive species, fungi and other “pests.”   While there are organic options, chemical pesticides are commonly used, with industrial agriculture relying heavily on it for their crops. However, as many studies and literature over the decades have shown, […]

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    Japanese Fisheries Collapsed Due to Pesticides, New Research Says

    Japanese Fisheries Collapsed Due to Pesticides, New Research Says

    Scientists announced today that pesticide use on rice fields led to the collapse of a nearby fishery in Lake Shinji, Japan, according to a new study published in the journal Science. The long-term study seems to have borne out the prophecy of Rachel Carson’s seminal 1962 book Silent Spring, in which the author describes the […]

    Neonics May Be Killing Birds in Addition to Bees, Groundbreaking Study Finds

    Neonics May Be Killing Birds in Addition to Bees, Groundbreaking Study Finds

    By Julia Conley In addition to devastating effects on bee populations and the pollination needed to feed humans and other species, widely-used pesticides chemically related to nicotine may be deadly to birds and linked to some species’ declines, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan studied the pesticide imidacloprid, in the […]

    Neonic Pesticide May Become More Toxic in Tap Water

    Neonic Pesticide May Become More Toxic in Tap Water

    By Jennifer Sass Yet again, our government scientists—the oft neglected but so important brain trust of our nation—bring the public some very important new data. Pesticide water monitoring experts at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) paired up with scientists from the University of Iowa in a federally funded collaboration to track neonicotinoid pesticides or ” […]

    Renewed Hope for Eastern Monarch Butterfly?

    Renewed Hope for Eastern Monarch Butterfly?

    The yearly count of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico, released Wednesday, shows an increase of 144 percent from last year’s count and is the highest count since 2006. That’s good news for a species whose numbers had fallen in recent years, but conservationists say the monarch continues to need Endangered Species Act protection. The count […]

    Half of Michigan’s Bumblebee Species in Decline, One Extinct

    Half of Michigan’s Bumblebee Species in Decline, One Extinct

    Honeybees get a lot of attention for their worrisome decline, but many species of bumblebees—which are key pollinators—are also in trouble. In Michigan, half of its bumblebee species have declined by 50 percent or more, Michigan Radio reported. “Of those twelve species, about half of them have declined and the other half are stable,” Thomas […]