New research exposes secret cocktail of toxic pesticides in hedgerows and wildflowers 04 January 2016...

New research exposes secret cocktail of toxic pesticides in hedgerows and wildflowers

04 January 2016

Scientists at Sussex University have discovered that bees are exposed to a chemical cocktail when feeding from wildflowers growing next to neonicotinoid treated crops in UK farmland. These chemical cocktails could make the impact of neonicotinoids up to 1000 times more potent than previously realised.

One in 10 species of Europe's wild bees is facing extinction, and neonicotinoid insecticides are increasingly seen as contributing to these declines.  In addition to neonicotinoids, farmers may spray some non-organic crops a dozen or more times while they are growing, with anything up to 23 different chemicals. (1)

New research by Sussex University and supported by the Soil Association reveals that pollinators consuming pollen from these crops or from nearby wildflowers will ingest a cocktail of fungicides and insecticides. A prior study suggests these fungicides could act synergistically, making the insecticides up to 1000 times more deadly than they are on their own (2, 3).

To combat bee decline, the Government’s Pollinator Strategy has focused on creating ‘safe havens’ for bees by increasing flower habitats next to fields – yet this research shows these flowers may be laden with dangerous chemicals.

Peter Melchett, Policy Director of the Soil Association said: “These findings are shocking. Neonicotinoids are supposedly highly targeted insecticides yet the researchers have found that they are turning up in the pollen of poppies, blackberries and hawthorn blossom in hedges, at levels that on their own are enough to cause harm to bees. Worse still, they are present along with a whole cocktail of chemicals, some of which could increase the toxicity of neonicotinoids up to 1000 times.

 “The UK government must act. Until now, the government’s main solution to the bee crisis is to pay farmers a small chunk of the £900 million Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) money, available to help wildlife, to create flower rich habitat next to crops. Yet this research suggests that these supposedly safe havens for bees are actually potentially dangerous chemical cocktail bars.

“These flower margins must be protected with a full ban on neonicotinoids; the current EU ban is only partial, and in the UK mainly applies to just one crop– oilseed rape.  Neonicotinoids are still used on other crops, for example on over 25% of all UK cereals. (4) Neonicotinoids will be poisoning the field margins of many of these crops. We also want to see the government finally setting out a strategy for reducing pesticide use in farmland – as is required by EU law. This has always been the gaping hole in the government’s strategy to save our bees”.

Dave Goulson, Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex, and one of the authors of the paper, said: “It is clear that insects visiting wildflowers in field margins are chronically exposed to a cocktail of chemicals. The effects that this has on their health have never been studied, and there is an urgent need to do so. In the meantime, the precautionary principle would suggest that we should take steps to reduce this exposure as much as possible.”

Dr Christopher Connolly, School of Medicine, University of Dundee, who was not involved in the research, commented: “Validating semi-field studies on neonicotinoids (artificial provision of pesticide) requires confirmation that bees do actually get exposed to these levels of pesticide in the field where multiple sources of pollen and nectar exist. This study provides such a bridge to validate previous studies. Furthermore, of the 20 pesticides examined, most OSR pollen samples contained 7-12 different pesticides, whilst pollen gathered by honeybees and bumblebees contained 2-10 pesticides. This does not represent the full pesticide load, only a reflection on the few examined. Pesticide levels in pollen gathered in urban areas were much lower, but still contaminated, demonstrating both the value of the urban environment and need to minimise garden pesticide use. The work by David et al is very important as, although in Europe, farmers are legally obliged to keep pesticide use records (EC No. 1107/2009), the data are not collected and so scientists have no access to local cocktail use. Therefore, studies like this should help governments realise the potential importance of gathering this information.”

 Notes to Editors:

The wild flowers found by researchers to be contaminated by neonicotinoids and other toxic sprays included: Creeping Buttercup, White Campion, Scented Mayweed, Hogweed, Poppy, Wild Rose, Burnet Saxifrage and Fool's Parsley. 

 Key extracts from this study’s ‘Conclusions’:

‘Overall, these results and [other similar] studies [in France and the USA] indicate that these mixtures of insecticides and fungicides appear ubiquitous in pollen samples and that even higher concentrations than the ones observed in our study can be encountered.’

‘For both species [honey bees and bumble bees], pollen from hawthorn represents a major part of the collected pollen (up to 87%) and that the pollen from hawthorn collected by honey bees was often contaminated by several pesticides (up to 6) and notably at concentrations up to 29 ng/g for carbendazim.’

‘Experimental studies such as Whitehorn et al. (2012), which describe  severe impacts of neonicotinoids on bumble bees, have been criticised for using unrealistically high concentrations of pesticide (in this example 6 ng/g of imidacloprid) (Carreck and Ratnieksi 2014). Our data suggest that real-world exposure may often be much higher than this, for the mean concentration of thiamethoxam in our samples from 5 nests located in farmland was 18 ng/g, and one of the nests located in urban environment showed more than 19 ng/g for imidacloprid. It has also been demonstrated that there are synergies between neonicotinoids and DMI fungicides such as flusilazole (Iwasa et al., 2004; Schmuck et al., 2003), so the presence of both compounds at high concentrations in pollen stores of bumble bees is a cause for concern.’

‘In summary, our study confirms that bees foraging in arable farmland are exposed to a complex cocktail of neonicotinoid insecticides and fungicides in the pollen they collect. While quantifying realistic levels of exposure via pollen as we have done here is an important step forwards, we did not examine exposure via nectar, which we intend to address in future work.  A major challenge which has yet to be tackled is attempting to understand what effects simultaneous exposure to multiple pesticides has upon bees in the field.’

 ENDS.


Read the full paper: David, A., Botías, C., Abdul-Sada, A., Nicholls, E., Rotherray, E. L., Hill, E. M. and Goulson, D. (2016) ‘Widespread contamination of wildflower and bee-collected pollen with complex mixtures of neonicotinoids and fungicides’, Environmental International, 88:169–178 http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1SJqPaUJLC98f

The Soil Association was founded in 1946 by farmers, scientists, doctors and nutritionists to promote the connection between the health of the soil, food, animals, people and the environment. Today the Soil Association is the UK's leading membership charity campaigning for healthy, humane and sustainable food, farming and land use. Its Chief Executive is Helen Browning, and Chair of Trustees is Dennis Overton.

Soil Association Certification is a wholly owned subsidiary with an independent board chaired by Linda Campbell, which certifies over 70% of all organic products sold in the UK. Certifying organic food and farming since 1973, and more recently, organic textiles, health and beauty products, the team has built up extensive practical experience and provides unrivalled support before, during and after certification.  It also audits other schemes within catering and forestry, including the Food for Life Catering Mark, and the FSC and PEFC forestry standards internationally, delivering assurances of quality and provenance that industry and consumers can trust. To find out more visit www.soilassociation.org

For media enquiries, please contact:
Hayley Coristine, Press & Digital Officer: 0117 314 5170 – hcoristine@soilassociation.org

Natasha Collins Daniel, Press Office Manager: 0117 914 2448/ 07827 925380 – Ncollins-daniel@soilassociation.org

References

1. Chemical sprays applied to two record wheat crops grown in the UK in 2015; reports from growers in Farmers Weekly; October 2015

2. Schmuck, R., Stadler, T., Schmidt, H.W., 2003. Field relevance of a synergistic effect observed in the laboratory between an EBI fungicide and a chloronicotinyl insecticide in the honeybee (Apis mellifera L, hymenoptera). Pest Manag. Sci. 59, 279–286.

3. Iwasa, T., Motoyama, N., Ambrose, J.T., Roe, R.M., 2004. Mechanism for the differential toxicity of neonicotinoid insecticides in the honey bee, Apis mellifera. Crop. Prot. 23, 371–378

4. Based on the last available data for use of neonicotinoids (seeds planted just before the start of the ban – 2014 data)


https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/pusstats/






Notes to Editors

The wild flowers found by researchers to be contaminated by neonicotinoids and other toxic sprays included: Creeping Buttercup, White Campion, Scented Mayweed, Hogweed, Poppy, Wild Rose, Burnet Saxifrage and Fool's Parsley. 

Key extracts from this study

Page 76, paragraph 4

Overall, these results and [other similar] studies [in France and the USA] indicate that these mixtures of insecticides and fungicides appear ubiquitous in pollen samples and that even higher concentrations than the ones observed in our study can be encountered.

Page 76, paragraph 5

For both species [honey bees and bumble bees], pollen from hawthorn represents a major part of the collected pollen (up to 87%) and that the pollen from hawthorn collected by honey bees was often contaminated by several pesticides (up to 6) and notably at concentrations up to 29 ng/g for carbendazim.

Page 76, paragraph 7

Experimental studies such as Whitehorn et al. (2012), which describe  severe impacts of neonicotinoids on bumble bees, have been criticised for using unrealistically high concentrations of pesticide (in this example 6 ng/g of imidacloprid). Our data suggest that real-world exposure may often be much higher than this, for the mean concentration of thiamethoxam in our samples from 5 nests located in farmland was 18 ng/g, and one of the nests located in urban environment showed more than 19 ng/g for imidacloprid. It has also been demonstrated that there are synergies between neonicotinoids and DMI fungicides such as flusilazole, so the presence of both compounds at high concentrations in pollen stores of bumble bees is a cause for concern.

Page 177, paragraph 7

In summary, our study confirms that bees foraging in arable farmland are exposed to a complex cocktail of neonicotinoid insecticides and fungicides in the pollen they collect. While quantifying realistic levels of exposure via pollen as we have done here is an important step forwards, we did not examine exposure via nectar, which we intend to address in future work. A major challenge which has yet to be tackled is attempting to understand what effects simultaneous exposure to multiple pesticides has upon bees in the field.


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