Bees are one step closer to safety as a majority of the European Union's member countries have voted to ban the use of three killer chemicals that have been killing bees in their millions.By the end of 2018, insecticides containing imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam (*see below) no longer can legally be supplied within the EU, allowing bees a chance to rebuild their numbers.
Portugal’s nature association, Quercus, is part of a European network of NGOs which all have welcomed the European Commission's aggressive stance towards unwilling member States and the agro-industry, both of which have been happy to continue using chemicals that kills bees as well as the target insects.
Portugal voted in favour of the ban of the chemicals which have been i use for 25 years despite the three neonicotinoids causing harm to bees, other pollinators and the environment.
Portugal voted in favour of the ban of the chemicals which have been i use for 25 years despite the three neonicotinoids causing harm to bees, other pollinators and the environment.
The European Food Safety Authority finally published a series of reports warning that safe use of these three insecticides is not possible.
Quercus said the vote to ban the chemicals was historic, with most member States giving out a clear signal that European agriculture needs to evolve and that only sustainable agricultural practices should be used to produce our food.
What are these chemicals and what do they do?
Imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide that acts as an insect neurotoxin and belongs to a class of chemicals called the neonicotinoids which act on the central nervous system of insects. The chemical works by interfering with the transmission of stimuli in the insect nervous system. Specifically, it causes a blockage of the nicotinergic neuronal pathway. By blocking nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, imidacloprid prevents acetylcholine from transmitting impulses between nerves, resulting in the insect's paralysis and eventual death. It is effective on contact and via stomach action. Because imidacloprid binds much more strongly to insect neuron receptors than to mammal neuron receptors, this insecticide is more toxic to insects than to mammals.
As of 1999, imidacloprid was the most widely used insecticide in the world. Although it is now off patent, the primary manufacturer of this chemical is Bayer CropScience (part of Bayer AG). It is sold under many names for many uses; it can be applied by soil injection, tree injection, application to the skin of the plant, broadcast foliar, ground application as a granular or liquid formulation, or as a pesticide-coated seed treatment.
Imidacloprid is widely used for pest control in agriculture. Other uses include application to foundations to prevent termite damage, pest control for gardens and turf, treatment of domestic pets to control fleas, protection of trees from boring insects, and in preservative treatment of some types of lumber products.
Clothianidin is an insecticide developed by Takeda Chemical Industries and Bayer AG. Similar to thiamethoxam and imidacloprid, it is a neonicotinoid. Neonicotinoids are a class of insecticides that are chemically similar to nicotine, which has been used as a pesticide since the late 1700s. Clothianidin and other neonicotinoids act on the central nervous system of insects as an agonist of acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter that stimulates nAChR, targeting the same receptor site (AChR) and activating post-synaptic acetylcholine receptors but not inhibiting AChE. Clothianidin and other neonicotinoids were developed to last longer than nicotine, which is more toxic and which breaks down too quickly in the environment. However, studies published in 2012 show that neonicotinoid dust released at planting time may persist in nearby fields for several years and be taken up into non-target plants, which are then foraged by bees and other insects.
Clothianidin is an alternative to organophosphate, carbamate, and pyrethroid pesticides. It poses lower risks to mammals, including humans, when compared to organophosphates and carbamates. It has helped prevent insect pests build up resistance to organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), clothianidin's major risk concern is to nontarget insects (honey bees). Information from standard tests and field studies, as well as incident reports involving other neonicotinoid insecticides (e.g., imidacloprid) suggest the potential for long term toxic risk to honey bees and other beneficial insects. In January 2013, the European Food Safety Authority stated that neonicotinoids including clothianidin pose an unacceptably high risk to bees, concluding, "A high acute risk to honey bees was identified from exposure via dust drift for the seed treatment uses in maize, oilseed rape and cereals. A high acute risk was also identified from exposure via residues in nectar and/or pollen."
Thiamethoxam is a systemic insecticide in the class of neonicotinoids. It has a broad spectrum of activity against many types of insects. Thiamethoxam affects bumblebees negatively according to independent European scientific studies from 2014 and 2016.
Thiamethoxam was developed by Syngenta[when?]; a patent dispute arose with Bayer which already had patents covering other neonicotinoids including imidacloprid. In 2002 the dispute was settled, with Syngenta paying Bayer $120 million in exchange for worldwide rights to thiamethoxam
Mechanisms of action
Mechanisms of action
Thiamethoxam is a broad-spectrum, systemic insecticide, which means it is absorbed quickly by plants and transported to all of its parts, including pollen, where it acts to deter insect feeding.[citation needed] An insect can absorb it in its stomach after feeding, or through direct contact, including through its tracheal system. The compound gets in the way of information transfer between nerve cells by interfering with nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the central nervous system, and eventually paralyzes the muscles of the insects.
Syngenta asserts that thiamethoxam improves plant vigor by triggering physiological reactions within the plant, which induce the expression of specific "functional proteins" involved in various stress defense mechanisms of the plant allowing it to better cope under tough growing conditions, such as "drought and heat stress leading to protein degradation, low pH, high soil salinity, free radicals from UV radiation, toxic levels of aluminum, wounding from pests, wind, hail, etc, virus attack."
