Neonicotinoids could be killing bees, as well as birds, according to a new study. The chemicals are also being implicated in damage done to fish, worms, and butterflies. Fipronil is another class of pesticide the group found to be highly-dangerous to the environment.
Neonics are insecticides that kill small animals either quickly, or by slowly infesting larger populations. They are used in farming, as well as to control fleas on pets. They are related to the drug nicotine, the addictive substance in tobacco.
Colony collapse disorder (CCD), the rapid loss of bee populations throughout the northern hemisphere, is being blamed on these chemicals, by some researchers. Bees and other insect pollinators are responsible for playing a critical role in the reproduction of 80 percent of the world's food crops.
The Task Force on Systemic Pesticides, a group of 29 scientists who participated in the study, called for tighter regulations to reduce use of the toxins. The report, called Worldwide Integrated Assessment, stated the chemicals are leeching into groundwater and soil. There, they are harming birds and fish, according to the group.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world's oldest and largest environmental group, named the commission that produced the study.
"Neonicotinoids are neurotoxins that act on invertebrates' information processing by affecting a specific neural pathway that is more common in invertebrates than other animal groups, making them popular very broad spectrum insecticides," IUCH researchers wrote in an announcement of the study.
Neonicotinoids account for roughly 25 percent of global usage of pesticides. For two decades, they have been considered as prime suspects in the disappearance of bee populations. They can remain in soil for up to 1,000 days, and stay in woody plants for more than a year. Moreover, the chemicals formed when these toxins break down in nature can be even more hazardous than the original chemical. The new study reported neonics are 5,000 to 10,000 times more toxic to wildlife than DDT, which is now banned in the United States.
According to the meta-analysis, pesticides harmful to bees have been found in "bee-friendly" plants sold at locations throughout the United States and Canada.
The group studied approximately 800 scientific articles in their analysis. They determined there is "clear evidence of harm sufficient to trigger regulatory action."
"Far from protecting food production, the use of neonics is threatening the very infrastructure which enables it, imperiling the pollinators, habitat engineers and natural pest controllers at the heart of a functioning ecosystem," Jean-Marc Bonmatin from The National Centre for Scientific Research in France, stated in a press release.
The meta-analysis of neonicotinoids and their effect on invertebrate pollinators was detailed in the journal Environment Science and Pollution Research.
