The Thin End

SAN FRANCISCO— Farmworker groups, environmentalists, and health organizations represented by Earthjustice are legally challenging the Environmental Protection Agency for approving the continued use of the deadly pesticide paraquat, which has been linked to Parkinson’s disease. Paraquat is currently banned in 32 countries, including member states of the European Union, where the chemical is manufactured and exported, and China. In July, the US EPA reapproved the pesticide’s registration for another 15 years. “This paraquat registration puts EPA on the wrong side of science, history and the law,” said Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, a senior attorney at Earthjustice. “With dozens of countries banning paraquat because of its severe health effects, there is no excuse for leaving farmworkers and agricultural communities exposed to extreme risks.” All major agricultural states are hot spots for paraquat use, according to the latest government data. But communities in Kansas, Texas, and southern state...

 I do love a cup of tea.  My mum liked a cup of tea too.  Whenever we returned from shopping or some other activity, visiting friends, etc. she would immediately say "Let's put the kettle on and have a nice cup of tea!"  In those days, the 1950s, it was always Co-op 99.  Co-op 99 is relevant to this story because it was the first branded tea in the UK to become 'Fairtrade.'  But what price our cup of tea?  Joanna K Photography According to the Tea and Infusions Association, in Britain, we drink an estimated 165 million cups of tea a day or over 60 billion in a year.  That's a lot of tea.   There is only one country that drinks more tea than does the UK - Ireland.  In the UK, tea varies in price from £1.10 for a Tesco's own box of 80 tea-bags to £2.40 for a branded variety, such as Typhoo.  But, whichever you choose, very little of it finds its way to the tea pickers in the fields of India, China, or Africa.  The lion's sh...

We are more aware than ever before that microplastics (plastic particles under 5 mm) are an abundant type of debris found in salt and freshwater environments.  They can be readily ingested along with food and enter the 'food' chain.   It is not yet clear what harm if any the ingestion of microplastics has in the food chain, although some studies have found depressed growth and lethargy. In a Limnology & Oceanography Letters study, researchers demonstrated the transfer of microplastics through the food chain between microscopic prey and larval fish that live in coastal ecosystems. They also found that microplastic ingestion interferes with healthy growth in fish larvae. The investigators also looked at the effects of a common pollutant (the pesticide DDT) that attaches to microparticles in coastal waters. Organisms were not able to detect or discriminate against ingesting microparticles with high levels of DDT. "Even short exposure to high levels of micropl...

New research published in Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry reveals that low doses of a commonly used pesticide potentially harm the Northern Leopard frog by inhibiting their brain development. Case against chlorpyrifos stacks up The pesticide,  chlorpyrifos, which has been used since 1965 in both agricultural and non-agricultural areas, had clear effects on Northern Leopard tadpoles’ neurodevelopment, even in situations where the pesticide did not cause a decline in the amphibians’ food source. Diagram by Sara McClelland. Developmental exposure to chlorpyrifos The leopard frog ( Lithobates pipiens ) tadpoles were reared through metamorphosis in artificial ponds containing either 0 or 1 µg/L chlorpyrifos and either chlorpyrifos‐resistant or chlorpyrifos‐sensitive Daphnia pulexzooplankton.  Developmental exposure to chlorpyrifos resulted in metamorphs with a relatively wider optic tectum, medulla, and diencephalon compared with controls, and this resu...

A new study suggests exposure to residues persisting in the environment from pesticides banned fifty years ago is associated with autism. The new study provides the first biomarker-based evidence in humans that maternal exposure to DDT residues in the food chain may increase the risk of autism in their children. DDTs (organochlorines) were widely banned as pesticides from the late 1970s,  but residues persist in the food chain. These persistent organic pollutants can be transferred from the mother across the placenta to the fetus, resulting in fetal blood concentrations ranging from 30% to 50% of levels found in maternal blood.   The investigation ,  published online in the American Journal of Psychiatry, was derived from the Finnish Prenatal Study of Autism, a large national birth cohort with maternal serum specimens from early pregnancy tested for levels of the organochlorine DDT (dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane) and its metabolite DDE (dichlo...

Almost one in five of British mammal species face a high risk of extinction, according to the first comprehensive review of their populations for more than 20 years launched this week by The Mammal Society and Natural England. The red squirrel, wildcat and the grey long-eared bat are all facing severe threats to their survival. Other mammals such as the hedgehog and water vole have seen their populations decline by up to 66% over the past 20 years. Red Squirrel by Malcolm Welch Climate change and pesticides Climate change, loss of habitat, use of pesticides and road deaths are all putting pressure on some of the best-loved and most recognisable of Britain’s 58 terrestrial mammals.   Prof Fiona Mathews, Mammal Society Chair and professor of Environmental Biology at the University of Sussex, says This is happening on our own doorstep so it falls upon all of us to try and do what we can to ensure that our threatened species do not go the way of the lynx, ...

A federal court has ordered the US Environmental Protection Agency to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos because it is harmful to human health.   This is good news for the environment as much as it is for human safety. From peregrine falcons to European starlings Just as peregrine falcons help alert us to the harmful effects of organochlorine pesticides,  European starlings alert us to the harmful effects of organophosphates.   The studies of these birds demonstrate the harmful effects on wildlife. In 1973 I was a student of Zoology at Manchester University.   For my very first assignment, my tutor gave me the name of a species,  the peregrine falcon,  Falco perigranus, and a set of dates, and asked me to do some research in the library and write a short report. During the 1940s and 1950s, Derrick Ratcliff of the British Nature Conservancy noted a sharp decline in peregrine falcons across Europe. Soon after this observation correlations between eggs...

Many have responded to the campaigns to stop the use of pesticides killing bees.  Bees are not the only animals affected. Hummingbirds are noted as a species of conservation concern by Partners in Flight , and their populations are estimated to have declined by 60% between 1970 and 2014. Rufous hummingbird about to feed Credit: Johnathan Moran New research reveals that hummingbirds and bumble bees are being exposed to neonicotinoid and other pesticides through routes that are widespread and complex. The findings are published in Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry . To measure exposure to pesticides in these avian pollinators, investigators made novel use of cloacal fluid and fecal pellets from hummingbirds living near blueberry fields in British Columbia. They also collected bumble bees native to Canada, and their pollen, and blueberry leaves and flowers from within conventionally sprayed and organic blueberry farms. The researchers detected pesticides...