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Deadly
Neonicotinoids
Governments and leading experts around the world recognise that a
group of particularly powerful pesticides – neonicotinoids (neonics)
are at the heart of why the bees are disappearing.
Neonicotinoids are 7,000 times more toxic than
DDT, which was banned in Britain in 1984
Using new technology, neonics penetrate the plant and attack
the nervous system of insects that feed of them – posing a deadly
threat to all pollinators.
The French banned neonics in 2000 after determining, through
extensive studies, that even with small doses these pesticides
disoriented bees and impaired their foraging ability.
Italy, Germany and Slovenia followed suit banning sales of two
varieties of neonics manufactured by Bayer.
A leaked memo from the US Environmental Protection Agency
warned that bees and other pollinators are at risk from neonics,
which end up in the pollen and nectar of flowers, wash into
streams, ponds and rivers destroying aquatic life, and stay in the
soil for many years.
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Sunflower