By and large, Americans depend upon the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help shield from dangerous chemicals. In that regard, the EPA is currently contemplating approval of the pesticide thiamethoxam, allowing it to be sprayed directly on 165 million acres of wheat, barley, corn, sorghum, alfalfa, rice, and potatoes.
Thiamethoxam, an insecticide, is a neonicotinoid. According to a major study: “Neonicotinoids are compounds that affect the nervous system of insects, humans, and other animals.” (Source Jennifer Hopwood, et al, How Neonicotinoids Can Kill Bees, 2nd Ed. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, 2016).
“Twenty-nine (29) independent scientists who conducted a global review of more than 1,000 independent studies on neonicotinoids found overwhelming evidence linking the pesticides to declines in populations of bees, birds, earthworms, butterflies and other wildlife. (Source: EPA Considers Allowing Bee-Killing Pesticide To Be Sprayed on 165 Million Acres of U.S. Farmland, Center for Biological Diversity, EcoWatch, Dec. 19, 2017).
When using chemicals to kill specific pests, does it also make sense to collaterally kill bees, earthworms, butterflies, and other wildlife that form and create the backbone of ecosystems vital to human food, health, and well being?
Or, looked at another way, how did the world’s population grow crops and sustain population growth over the past couple of thousand years without chemical pesticides? For certain, the Roman Empire did not spray chemicals on crops nor did the British Empire of the 19th and early 20th centuries nor did America as it settled the frontier from Pennsylvania to California.
According to a landmark UN report d/d 2017: “Excessive use of pesticides are very dangerous to human health, to the environment and it is misleading to claim they are vital to ensuring food security… Chronic exposure to pesticides has been linked to cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, hormone disruption, etc….” (Source: UN Human Rights Experts Call for Global Treaty to Regulate Dangerous Pesticides, UN News, March 7, 2017).
Prior to the year 2000 neonicotinoid chemicals were used but largely unknown. Since then, they have become the most widely used agricultural insecticide on the planet. Despite this universality of use, amazingly, human toxicity issues via ingestion of chemically sprayed fruits and vegetables are not yet fully understood. That’s discomforting.
Meanwhile, bees and other pollinators are dropping dead like… well, like flies. Thus, pesticides designed to kill pests of crops are, in fact, killing insects that pollinate crops. Consider: 1,000 independent studies found “overwhelming evidence linking pesticides to declines in populations of bees, birds, earthworms, butterflies, and other wildlife.”
Scandalously, by all appearances, humanity is killing off the base of the food chain, as mentioned in numerous research reports regarding near-total collapse of several insect pollinator species worldwide.
It should be noted that the EPA has broadened its stance on pesticides and protection of pollinators as expressed on the EPA web site under the headline: “EPA Actions to Protect Pollinators.” But, it has not banned usage of neonicotinoids. EPA is currently in a “public comment period” until late April 2018 prior to assessment of approval of thiamethoxam.
Imidacloprid is another insecticide in the class of neoicotinoids but used on sucking insects, termites, soil insects, and fleas on pets. According to a significant study: “In many areas of intensive agriculture, surface water is contaminated with imidacloprid. As a result, non-target insects are exposed to an extremely toxic substance for a long time, which can lead to massive insect mortality and a break in the food chain… The risks of imidacloprid have been completely underestimated, with catastrophic consequences….” (Source: Henk A. Tennekes, The Importance of Dose-Time-Response Relationships for Hazard Identification and Limitation of Animal Experiments, Journal of Toxicology, Vol. 1, Issue 5 – August 2017)
The Tennekes’ study discusses “a break in the food chain” because of the use of an insecticide. That is a prime example of one of many studies that seldom appear in mainstream publications even though the message is critically important to quality of life and death matters.
In the final analysis, flirting with too much chemical saturation is not understood 100% for certain, but the literature is filled with tons and tons of research about chemical obsession, usage, and the dangers thereof. However, there is very little astute, careful threading-the-needle-type regulation by governmental regulators, mostly accepting internal studies passed on from chemical manufacturer in-house studies.
Meantime, the massive amount of chemicals spewing onto ecosystems is a relatively new phenomenon, mostly within the past few decades and few have been properly tested for harmful effects. Here’s the problem: Similar to radioactive isotopes, like those emitted at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that slowly accumulate in the body with a latency affect, chemicals in the environment do the same. Problem is, once the problem fully manifests, it’s too late. By then, it is totally out of control.
The article has been excerpted from: ‘Chemical Madness!’ Courtesy: Counterpunch.org