We're Not Just Killing Our Bees Anymore
I just learned of some unsettling news. It seems it's not just the bee population dying off from our use of pesticides known as neonicotinoids – specifically Imidacloprid , manufactured by Bayer - our birds are starting to die off, too. This is sad, on multiple levels.
According to BBC News, the effects on birds – and even some mammals – have been demonstrated by Dutch scientists and the long-term effects might also prove to be further catastrophic.
Neonicotinoids work in a systemic fashion. The plants take the pesticide in and basically become a living pesticide plant of their own. As the insects (so-called “pests”) feed on the plant, their own nervous system is impacted, killing them.
In addition to affecting the food source of many bird varieties, the pesticides themselves are accumulative within the ecosystem.
In another report from The Guardian , we learn Europe has already banned the pesticide but Bayer continues to fight the ban in court with lawsuits . Here on the North American continent, only one province in Canada is even considering banning neonicotinoids, so far.
Why the delicate balance of our ecosystem comes second to a corporation's profits is beyond me. But, as was once said before, once the last tree has been cut down and the last animal killed, only then will Man realize we cannot eat money .
Comments
Ellis wrote on July 26, 2014, 5:21 PM
Its been going on for a long time....we are losing species that we haven't even discovered yet...
LoudMan wrote on July 26, 2014, 5:42 PM
I think I read somewhere once that 97% of every life form which has ever existed on Earth is now extinct.
indexer wrote on July 26, 2014, 7:30 PM
That is not surprising, or even regrettable, given that extinction is an inevitable conclusion of the processes of evolution. What is regrettable is the number of species that have become extinct during recent centuries as a result of human activity. There is also the disturbing thought that we have probably been responsible for the extinction of species that we have not even discovered.
indexer wrote on July 26, 2014, 7:35 PM
This is the consequence of allowing capitalism to run at full tilt, so that the profit motive has become the only one that matters. What is needed is governments that are not enslaved by big business and have not been bought off by powerful interest groups.
LoudMan wrote on July 26, 2014, 9:55 PM
indexer we agree again. Since lassez-faire capitalism is never going to be anything more than some lofty concept, we need a realistic, pragmatic government.
MegL wrote on July 27, 2014, 2:30 AM
The fight in Europe to ban these bee killing pesticides needs to be ongoing. ALL the big chemical giants are lobbying at top government level to be allowed to sell their products over here, they don't care that plants need bees to pollinate them!
midastouch wrote on July 27, 2014, 6:23 AM
We are destroying our ecosystem with all these pesticides and then one day we will wake up and puff the earth is gone!!!!
paigea wrote on July 27, 2014, 1:02 PM
I don't understand why we can't learn. Some pesticides were banned decades ago since we realized the effects moved up the food chain. I don't know if all of those ever completely disappeared and more appear. It gives me a hopeless feeling.