Pesticide Linked to Bee Declines May Also Be Killing Birds

http://www.wunderground.com/news/pesticide-linked-bee-declines-may-also-be-killing-birds-20140710

By Laura Dattaro
Published: July 10, 2014

A widely used agricultural pesticide linked to bee declines may also be harmful to birds, according to a new study. The study found population declines across 14 species of birds.

The insecticides, called neonicotinoids, are so popular among farmers that they’re the fastest growing class of pesticides, according to National Geographic. Rather than a spray that coats the plants, neonicotinoids are loaded right into the seeds, incorporating the bug-killing poison into every part of the plant. [Which means we can't wash them off our food.]

Since their introduction in the 1990s, Wired reports, studies have shown that they’re killing not just the agricultural pests they’re designed to target, but also beneficial pollinators like honeybees, and even wild bees and butterflies.

Now, a group of scientists studying bird populations in the Netherlands have linked high levels of the most common neonicotinoid in water to declining populations of birds that eat insects, according to Wired.

“These insecticides appear to be having more profound effects than just killing our pollinating insects,” ecologist Caspar Hallmann, an author on the new study, told Wired.

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A recent report from the Task Force on Systemic Pesticides, which reviewed more than 800 studies examining neonicotinoids and wildlife, found that, even when used correctly, the insecticides were “likely to have a wide range of negative biological and ecological impacts,” according to National Geographic.

Europe already has a two-year moratorium on three common neonicotinoids, according to the Nature editorial, which is titled simply, “Be concerned.”