A Growing Concern
The world is in the midst of an insect extinction crisis. We've all heard about the plight of bees, but the plight of all insect fauna is much less widely appreciated. The figure below is from a report in Science a few years ago showing the precipitous decline in insects worldwide.[1] What beekeepers and naturalists [...]
Overview Previously we looked at some of the basic principles of nervous system function and how chemicals from several pesticide classes disrupt normal function. This time we will look in detail about what we can expect for a dose-response characterization of acetylcholine pathway insecticides based upon their mode of action and properties of the nervous system. [...]
Our comment letter to EPA follows below. OPP Docket Environmental Protection Agency Docket Center (EPA/DC), (28221T) 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Washington, DC 20460-0001 Re: Pollinator Ecological Risk Assessments: Imidacloprid Registration Review EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0844 To whom it may concern, We would like to offer some comments on the regulatory endpoints that are proposed in [...]
What started out as a bit of curiosity about the time-dependent toxicity of insecticides led to a blog piece I did a little over a year ago titled Time-dependent Toxicity of Imidacloprid in Bees and Ants. I thought my results were interesting enough to get a comment from other scientists that were looking at the time-dependent [...]
[Updated 6/19/14] It is with dismay that I must report on another bumblebee kill, this time only about a mile away from the bees in my yard. All of the details are not in yet, but the basic picture is clear. Insecticide was sprayed early Monday morning, 6/16, on blooming linden trees in an apartment [...]
Agricultural pesticides have become part of the chemical landscape that we all live in. To be able to make intelligent decision about the use and regulation of these chemicals, it's important to understand how they work. Almost all modern pesticides are chemicals that interfere in some way with the nervous system. The characteristics of the [...]
The debate about the environmental safety, or lack there of, for the neonicotinoid insecticides begs us to ask what would be the characteristics of an environmentally safe or benign pesticide? Despite a growing and flourishing organic agriculture movement, industrial agriculture is not going away any time soon. Hence it is important to understand how to [...]
I'm often asked which products are OK and which should be avoided. Hence the mnemonic in the title to help you remember I'm getting rid of Imidacloprid. Say it three times out loud, and when you read the labels at the garden store you will remember: I'm getting rid of Imidacloprid. When it comes to [...]
Squash Practice 