Neonicotinoids 2

Also see neonicotinoids 1,  SNAP's bee die-off page, wildlife section/aquatic invertebrates, birds, fish, insects/neonicotinoids, and amphibians, water, water /Saskatchewan,  wildlife section, wildlife/mammals,  food, health/nervous system, cancer, cancer/links, liver legislation/regulatory/Canada,pesticide use, pets, wildlife, legislation, safety, Legal/litigation, children/neonicotinoids, Legislation/Regulatory/Canada, and USA p2,  remediation/removal,  Industry Shenanigans , industry shenanigans/regulatory and legal p.2, wildlife section / insects/ neonicotinoids

Study Finds Pesticide Exposure to Bees During Dormancy or Overwintering Disruptive of Reproductive Health    (Beyond Pesticides, January 30, 2025) 'A research article in Biology Letters, published by The Royal Society, finds that the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid disrupts survival and reproductive patterns in Bombus impatiens bumblebees.  ...As a result, the authors note that imidacloprid treatments higher than 150 ppb reduce survival in gynes, workers, and males. The number of offspring produced was also highest in the control group, showing that even low concentrations of imidacloprid, such as the field-realistic doses of 6 and 60 ppb, can impact reproduction.    In summarizing these results, the authors state: “As anticipated, bee longevity and reproductive performance declined with increasing concentrations of imidacloprid. However, when gynes were exposed to sublethal concentrations and subsequently entered diapause, their survival was greater compared with the control, demonstrating a classic hormetic response.    This reflects hormetic responses that allow organisms to survive unfavorable conditions. The researchers postulate that a “mechanism linking pesticide exposure to greater diapause survival involves its effects on thermal tolerance and metabolism, possibly enhancing cold resistance at the cost of reduced reproductive performance later in life… Pesticides are known to affect the expression of heat shock proteins HSPs, and several studies have shown that pesticide exposure alters heat or cold tolerance… Sublethal pesticide exposure often impairs reproduction even without increasing mortality, suggesting a trade-off between detoxification and reproduction.”

Inside Quebec's fight over bee-killing pesticides   (National Observer, By Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, January 31st 2025)    'Spooked by Labrie's warnings, the government started looking for neonics — and found them in 100 per cent of the Quebec waterways they tested.      (Labrie) told the crowd that her research showed neonic-treated seeds didn't boost yields, except in exceptional circumstances. Neonic-treated seeds also harm predatory insects like ground beetles that Michon relied on to kill pests naturally...  Initially, he (farmer) struggled to find untreated seeds. But everything changed by 2019, when Quebec introduced groundbreaking rules banning neonics, including treated seeds, unless prescribed by an agronomist.   After the ban, the pesticide companies launched another backdoor attack: they replaced their neonic seed coatings with diamides — a group of insecticides particularly deadly to ecologically important aquatic organisms. Within a year, diamides were showing up in provincial pesticide water monitoring data.    This month, to close that loophole, Quebec banned the use of all insecticide-coated seeds unless prescribed by an agronomist. The ban is a Canadian first. The restrictions will come into force this August to align with the 2026 seed-buying season, said Jacques Fadous, an agronomist with the province's environment ministry...  But the most intense resistance to her research came from her bosses at CÉROM, giving her a key role in the so-called "Louis Robert" scandal that rocked Quebec in 2018:  The note outlined how CÉROM's then-president Christian Overbeek and other executives tried to stop Labrie and her colleagues from talking about their neonic findings.  The situation got so bad that Labrie and several colleagues resigned in 2017.     Public outrage over the case led Premier François Legault to apologize publicly and offer Robert his job back or compensation.     

Investigative Report Finds Canada’s Reversal of Neonicotinoid Ban Influenced by Bayer/Monsanto(Beyond Pesticides, December 18, 2024)      A bombshell investigation conducted by Canada’s National Observer finds that Bayer, which acquired the Monsanto chemical company in 2018, colluded with environmental and public health regulators in Canada to obstruct a proposed neonicotinoid insecticide ban originally introduced in 2018.        To the dismay of Dr. Morrissey, federal officials at PMRA shared her unpublished data from 2014 with Bayer despite an understanding that the pesticide regulatory body would not share the data with industry unless “they signed an affidavit to use it as a part of the registration process.”      “I... Bayer replicated her tests during the end of summer when fields were dry and neonics weren’t running into the water,” Canada’s National Observer reports. “Instead of visiting and taking water samples from the sites, they relied primarily on Google Earth and Street View to find the wetlands Morrissey sampled and evaluate if they were relevant to the PMRA’s pesticide risk assessment. Bayer’s team only visited ‘a few sites’ in person,” the report says. In reversing the proposed ban, PMRA adopted Bayer’s critique of “relevant” sites in Dr. Morrissey’s aquatic risk assessment in its final decision to allow the continued use of imidacloprid.      In a recent press release, the David Suzuki Foundation, alongside numerous medical, legal, and civil society organizations, is calling on Health Canada to engage in an independent review to correct for agency corruption and industry influence.

Scientists hopeful antidote can help protect bumblebees from pesticides   Study suggests hydrogel microparticles increase survival by 30% in bumblebees exposed to lethal doses of neonicotinoids. (The Guardian 12 September 2024)  'The researchers found that the microparticles physically bind to the neonicotinoids and once absorbed, the pesticides and microparticles pass through the bee’s digestive tract and are excreted, without causing the same harm. The antidote has the potential to be selectively applied to other pesticides.   This treatment improved the bees’ motivation to feed and led to a 44% increase in the number of bees able to walk a route mapped by scientists. Bees become so unwell that they are unable to flap their wings when they are exposed to neonicotinoids but, using a high-speed camera, the researchers found that impaired wingbeat frequency after exposure improved significantly with the treatment'   See also: Ingestible hydrogel microparticles improve bee health after pesticide exposure Nature Sustainability, 15 August 2024.    SNAP Comment: How would one get the hydrogel into wild pollinators? What happens to it after it is excreted? It is still full of neonicotinoids and in the environment. Can't some other organism ingest it?

Industry interference in pesticide regulation must be investigated (Prevent Cancer Now, November 2024)   'Environmental and health groups call for independent review of controversial “neonic” decision   The letter asks Health Minister Mark Holland to put safeguards in place to ensure that PMRA scientists' work in the public interest is reflected in final decisions, and to prevent inappropriate industry influence over pesticide regulation. '

Evaluation of EPA Safety Data on Neonicotinoid Insecticides Identifies Scientific Failures    (Beyond Pesticides, November 5, 2024) Published in the journal Frontiers in Toxicology, a recent study uncovers serious flaws in the pesticide registration process at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with an in-depth evaluation of the agency’s failure to protect the public from the harmful effects of five neonicotinoid (neonic) insecticides...'All five neonicotinoids evaluated: acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam—are associated with significant shrinkage of brain tissue at the highest dosage, according to EPA data reports (see acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam). However, with little or no data regarding the chemicals’ impacts at low and mid-level dosages, EPA has either failed to find a “No Observed Adverse Effect Level” (NOAEL) or, seemingly at random, set the NOAEL at the mid-level dosage. The evaluation suggests that perinatal exposure to neonicotinoids and their metabolites results in nicotine-like neurotoxic effects in rodent studies, concluding that, “… the exposure limits set by EPA for human exposure are either not protective or not supported by available neurotoxicity data.” The study also finds that the agency ignored significant adverse effects, allowed DNT studies that did not conform with scientific protocols, and permitted “neonicotinoid registrants to unduly influence agency decision-making.” ' Links in original article

Seeds Coated with Neonicotinoid Insecticides Again Identified as an Important Factor in Butterfly Decline (Beyond Pesticides, June 28, 2024)  ...' insect populations globally are declining two to four percent a year, with total losses over 20 years of 30-50 percent, according to a new study of the interacting effects of pesticides, climate, and land use changes on insects’ status in the Midwest....   Of the three drivers of insect loss, the study confirmed unequivocally that insecticides lead the pack in causing the loss of richness and abundance in Midwest butterfly species, particularly monarchs. “Overall declines are overwhelmingly supported by the evidence,” they write. Monarchs, bumblebees, dragonflies and lowland butterflies all drop catastrophically in areas where pesticides are used.   And while the steep crash of monarch butterflies coincides neatly with the introduction of glyphosate, the authors note that while herbicides reduce habitat diversity sharply, they do not directly kill insects like pesticides do. The study’s end result was clear: seeds coated with neonicotinoids are causing the most damage. Study published in PLos One.

Study Confirms Continued Bird Decline as EPA Fails to Restrict Neonicotinoid Insecticides  (Beyond Pesticides, July 21, 2023)   A comprehensive and scathing report, “Neonicotinoid insecticides: Failing to come to grips with a predictable environmental disaster,” issued by American Bird Conservancy (ABC) in June, lays out the dire consequences of neonicotinoid (neonic) pesticides’ continued use. The report is an update of an earlier review from 2013, which warned of the risks to birds, stating starkly: “A single corn kernel coated with a neonicotinoid can kill a songbird. Even a tiny grain of wheat or canola treated with the oldest neonicotinoid, imidacloprid, can poison a bird. As little as 1/10th of a corn seed per day during egg-laying season is all that is needed to affect reproduction with any of the neonicotinoids registered to date.

Western Bumblebee Declines a Result of Pesticides and Climate Change, No End in Sight    (Beyond Pesticides, January 25, 2023) Populations of the western bumblebee are in free fall, with 57% declines across the species’ historical range, finds new research led by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey. These data are in line with trends for other once common bumblebees in the United States, like the rusty patched and American, of which the former is now listed as endangered and the latter is under consideration.   In regard to pesticide stressors, the study focuses only on the application of neonicotinoid pesticides within the species range. Without considering other pesticide stressors, occupancy in regions where neonicotinoid applications occurred are 35% lower than areas where these chemicals are not sprayed. Not only are they lower, but scientists found trends to indicate that local populations decrease alongside increasing neonicotinoid use.

Neonicotinoid Insecticides Adversely Affect Nervous System Health, According to Study   (Beyond Pesticides, January 19, 2023) Chinese study. 'Research published in Environmental Health Perspectives finds the presence of nine various neonicotinoids (neonics) and six neonic metabolites within human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).   Researchers collected CSF samples from patients experiencing similar symptoms with a different disease/clinical diagnosis (i.e., “mostly viral encephalitis, encephalitis other than viral encephalitis, leukemia, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral laceration, urinary tract infection, respiratory failure, pulmonary tuberculosis, and posterior circulation ischemia”).  Ninety-nine percent of the 314 CSF samples contain at least one neonic. Of the 314 CSF samples, nine percent (28) have a single neonic compound, 84 percent (265) have between 2 and 6, and six percent (19) have between 7 and 10 neonic compounds. Nine of these neonics in CSF samples are nitenpyram (NIT), thiamethoxam, imidacloprid, acetamiprid (ACE), thiacloprid, clothianidin, flonicamid, imidaclothiz, and sulfoxaflor. Additionally, six neonic metabolites are present in CSF: N-desmethyl-thiamethoxam, olefin-imidacloprid, 5-hydroxy-imidacloprid, N-desmethyl-acetamiprid (N-dm-ACE), thiacloprid-amide, and 6-chloronicotinic acid.

Study Connects Neonicotinoids to Liver Damage Ignored by EPA    (Beyond Pesticides, January 11, 2022) Neonicotinoid insecticides can have detrimental effects on liver health, according to research published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials. (Chinese study)    Scientists determined the amount of eight neonicotinoids in bile samples, including acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, imidacloprid, imidaclothiz, nitenpyram, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam.  Researchers found that neonicotinoids are neither metabolized by the liver nor excreted by urine. Of all samples taken, at least one neonicotinoid was detected in 99% of individuals tested. However, different neonicotinoids were found to act in different ways. While the detection of acetamiprid was low (1% of samples), 97% contained nitenpyram. The widely used insecticide dinotefuran was detected in 86% of bile. Detections did not appear to differ between participants of different health backgrounds.(cancer vs control).   The results led scientists to believe that neonicotinoids found in bile will eventually be absorbed again by the intestines, make their way into blood, and eventually one’s liver. Biomarkers tested, such as cholesterol, bilirubin, and bile acids, were found to correlate with higher concentrations of certain neonicotinoids. Of the various neonicotinoids, dinotefuran, thiamethoxam, and clothianidin were found to pose the greatest risk to liver health.

Neonicotinoid Insecticides Add to the Growing List of Chemicals that Transfer between Mother and Fetus    (Beyond Pesticides, January 4, 2022) A study published in Environmental Science and Technology finds neonicotinoids (neonics) and their breakdown products (metabolites), like other chemical pesticide compounds, can readily transfer from mother to fetus.      Levels of five neonics (acetamiprid, imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam) and two metabolites of acetamiprid and imidacloprid were measured.   The most abundant neonic in mothers’ serum (MS) and cord serum (CS) samples is imidacloprid, whereas acetamiprid’s metabolite is the most abundant in CS and MS. Both parent and metabolite neonics have a high ransplacental transfer efficiencies (TTE), with imidacloprid having the highest transfer rate (1.61). Even the neonic with the lowest TTE of 0.81, thiamethoxam, is within the high TTE range, indicating proficient placental transfer of these chemicals from mother to fetus. Researchers identify that transplacental transfer of these chemicals mainly occurs through passive mechanisms depending on chemical structure. 

Synthetic Fertilizers and Pesticides Make Plants Less Attractive to Bumblebees, Research Shows   (Beyond Pesticides, November 15, 2022) 'Spraying a flowering plant with synthetic fertilizers makes it less attractive to bumblebees, according to research published this month in PNAS Nexus.  “A big issue is thus—agrochemical application can distort floral cues and modify behaviour in pollinators like bees,” said study author Ellard Hunting, PhD, of the University of Bristol, UK.  The experiment was then repeated with a rooted, still growing flowering plant (Jacobaea vulgaris), and this time researchers measured the electrical field around the flower. Scientists found that fertilizers increase the flower’s electric field, which then slowly returned to its previous state.  While water resulted in a change in stem potential that lasted up to a minute, synthetic fertilizers changed stem potential for 16 minutes, and the neonicotinoid imidacloprid showed alterations that lasted for up to 25 minutes. These measurements aligned directly with observed declines in bumblebee foraging interest in flowers recently sprayed with the agrichemcials. The authors note, “Since many chemicals used in agriculture and horticulture carry an electric charge, the observed mechanism could potentially be relevant for a wide array of chemicals.”   “The fact that fertilisers affect pollinator behavior by interfering with the way an organism perceives its physical environment offers a new perspective on how human-made chemicals disturb the natural environment,” Dr. Hunting notes.  These results fly in the face of outdated toxicological approaches that agrichemical companies hide behind when confronted with the on the ground impacts of their dangerous products, such as 15th century Paracelsian concept that “dose makes the poison.” '

Breast Cancer Month: Neonicotinoid Insecticides and Breast Cancer Risk (Triple Negative Breast Cancer)  (Beyond Pesticides, October 27, 2022) A study published in Environment International adds to the growing body of research evaluating the association between neonicotinoid insecticides (neonics/NIs) and breast cancer... this study is one of the few to evaluate the toxicological and molecular mechanisms involved in initiating breast cancer events.  The study evaluates the activity of seven neonics on the GPER pathway using a calcium mobilization assay. The seven neonics include thiamethoxam, imidacloprid, nitenpyram, thiacloprid, clothianidin, acetamiprid, and dinotefuran. Of the seven neonics, clothianidin, acetamiprid, and dinotefuran bind most strongly and activate GPER, thus indicating these chemicals induce breast cancer cell migration. Thus, GPER is a potential molecular target for the estrogenic disruption of neonicotinoids. Overall, the study demonstrates that neonics promote breast cancer progression through the GPER pathway at human-related exposure levels.   SNAP Comment: All are registered in Canada, except nitenpyram.

Tackling the Environmental Challenges of Rising Pesticide Use in Canada   By Dr Christy Morrissey (University of SK), UNBC-NRESI Colloquium Series, 14 October, 2022)  (University of Northern British Columbia colloquium series) 

Great one hour video presentation by Dr Morrissey. Worth watching. Lots of graphs with information new to me: like 

• the area treated (Canadian Census of Agriculture) maps for herbicide, fungicide and insecticide. Prairies saw a 58% increase in herbicides, 50% (conservative estimate) insecticides and 412% more fungicides. Also increase in BC, S. ON and everywhere in Canada. (@6 min 40). According to her data, SK uses 80% of all Canadian pesticides.
• Landscape simplification drives higher pesticide use, especially insecticides.
• risk of wetland contamination very high in most of areas of Prairies because of seed treatment, which is also the main reason for increased pesticide use.
• Fungicides in seed treatment are used to potentiate the insecticide, not for disease prevention.
• SK study relating increased pesticide residues in wetlands with reduced insect diversity and numbers.
•  it takes only 15 minutes for Red-winged Blackbird to feel really sick from eating neonicotinoid treated seeds and quit eating (equivalent to 4 canola seeds). so whether it survives or not, depends on how much it ate.There is a razor-thin margin between losing body mass and dying.

Trouble for Bambi: Neonic Levels in Wild Deer Spiking in Minnesota Raise Contamination Concerns   (Beyond Pesticides, September 7, 2022) Neonicotinoid (neonic) insecticides are causing widespread contamination within deer populations in Minnesota, with recent data showing significant increases over sampling that took place just two years earlier.  Results of the 2019 sampling showed ubiquitous contamination of deer spleens throughout the state. Of 799 deer spleens analyzed that year, 61% of them contained neonics. The 2021 results focus in on the southwest area of the state, where there is more farming and forestland. Of the 496 samples tested in that area, 94% of samples analyzed find neonics... Not only did prevalence of the chemicals increase, so did concentration. The research conducted on neonics and deer in South Dakota determined that a body burden of neonics over .33 parts per billion represents a risk threshold for adverse effects. At this level, exposed fawns in laboratory experiments died... But the latest (Minnesota) findings show 64% of neonic detections above this level.'   SNAP Comment: I haven't heard of anyone checking for this in Saskatchewan. Certainly, almost all canola seeds are treated and likely more crops.

UK overrules scientific advice by lifting ban on bee-harming pesticide ( The Guardian, 1 March 2022)   Campaigners aghast as emergency exemption on use of thiamethoxam granted due to risk to sugar beet crop.

Neonic Nation: Is Widespread Pesticide Use Connected To Grassland Bird Declines?   (By Scott Weidensaul, Summer 2022 issue of Living Bird magazine, June 24, 2022)    Good review of effect of DDT and other insecticides on birds with updated data on effects of neonics on birds. Also touches of regulations in Europe and North America and Quebec's novel approach to reducing seed treatment.

Why Did Health Canada Change Their Mind About Neonics?   (Canadian Wildlife Federation blog, May 18, 2022)   In 2018, the PMRA recommended that ALL agricultural, ornamental and greenhouse uses be cancelled and phased out over a three to five year period.  This is why, in spring 2021, we were shocked when Health Canada did a complete about-face. Suddenly, these pesticides that were so hazardous to aquatic life that their use needed to be terminated, were deemed “largely acceptable with some mitigation.”    The agricultural chemical industry provided the PMRA with additional data on contamination levels in the prairies, and these data were used by the federal government to base their reversal decision. While that is not in and of itself a bad thing, these data are now considered to be proprietary by the government. 

Neonic Pesticides: Potential Risks to Brain and Sperm  (Jennifer Sass, PANNA,January 06, 2021) where CDC biomonitoring indicates over 50% of the US population is regularly exposed to neonics as evidenced by their breakdown productsi urine. Neonics have been linked to birth defects, developmental neurotoxicity, reduced thyroid function, sensorimotor deficits in rats, and poor sperm qhalityand quantity.   SNAP Comment:   the article does a good job of exploring the various routes of exposure, except one: neonics in flea collars for pets (Seresto brand in the US) and monthly liquid treatments for fleas and lice for pets which form most of the imidacloprid labels in Canada.

Pollinators and Biodiversity panel. 57 minutes video'This workshop panel was recorded live on June 8th 2021 as part of the Beyond Pesticides Virtual Forum. The panel is moderated by Joyce Kennedy - People & Pollinators Action Network and featuring: Steve Ellis - Old Mill Honey Company Aimee Code - Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and Vera Krischik, PhD - Department of Entomology at the St. Paul, University of Minnesota Pollinators are in unrelenting devastating decline.